And Velvet Decayed
by Cue's Quill
Summary: Nyx had called him the exception to humanity. And for his freedom, Elizabeth devoted her life. But when his second chance finally comes; when another opportunity at life finally makes its way; who's to say that he's in any state of mind to take it?
1. Chapter 1

The first thing he'd noticed had been the velvet.

It had taken shape slowly at first. Rich, blue shades blending together to cut through the nothingness. Then, more colors appeared. Snowy whites; vibrant yellows. Groggily, he made a move to blink, certain that some part of him should have found what he was looking at unmistakable. Yet despite all instinct, he only managed to stare dumbfounded, too disoriented to determine who or what to place it to.

Then, without warning, it hit him.

"E-Elizabeth?"

Dazedly, he noted that his voice was shaky. Unnaturally so. He imagined it was due, in part, to the agony of his current migraine. Too many memories were coming back all at once. The fight with Nyx. The emergence of Erebus. The formation of the Seal.

Wait.

The Seal.

"Elizabeth… what did you–"

"Everything's alright Master Minato. You don't need to worry anymore."

The voice was as lighthearted as he remembered, and he paused, momentarily considering sinking back into the bliss of unconsciousness. Yet the yellowness of her eyes was too soft. Her smile, too sad. And, as his eyes sifted through his surroundings, he couldn't help but notice that the Seal that had restrained Erebus for so long had no soul left to bear.

"But… the seal–"

"Will remain intact so long as I'm here."

Her smile only grew more wistful with each passing word, and he stared, frozen with shock, as the elevator attendant's arms began to tremble slightly. Never in his life had he seen Elizabeth without her characteristic aloofness. And, while her tone remained resolute, he knew he was witnessing an absolute display of uncertainty. And it frightened him. Frightened him more than even–

"raaaAAaaAaAGH!"

–Erebus.

He tried his best to act quickly – or as quickly as his groggy state would allow. His Evoker still lay at his side, and he ventured to sit up past Elizabeth's looming frame to draw it–

–Only for a soft, plaintive hand to push him back down again.

"Elizabeth… what are you–"

"Don't push yourself, Minato." He paused, dumbstruck, even as a small part of him realized that it marked the first time his name had been said without its formal precedent. "We're running out of time as it is, and I need all my power to complete the exchange."

The peculiar choice of words wasn't lost to him, and he had a sinking feeling that Elizabeth was about to do something incredibly foolish. Then, not a second later, realization hit, and that feeling became an all-consuming debilitation.

"No… you can't–"

"I can, and I must, Minato."

She cocked her head to the side, gazing pensively at the broken barrier across from them. "Do you have any idea how long I searched for a way to free you from _that_? Countless years of study and research – all without the aid of the Velvet Room. And yet the solution was as simple as offering an equally steadfast soul as a substitute." Her chuckle was full of genuine mirth, then, and it pained him all the more to hear it. "Honestly, it was as if fate was mocking me and inviting me all at the same time!"

A myriad of protests bubbled to the tip of his tongue, just waiting to be given voice. It was _he_ that was content with giving his life for a world that gave him so much. It was _he_ that was at peace knowing that his friends would live their lives without worry. For her to shoulder the burden – the sacrifice – that was only his to bear, he almost felt the need to lash out in anguish.

But instead, he only had the strength to offer up a raspy plea.

"Please… why can't you just let yourself live on?"

He watched desperately, then, as her yellow orbs shifted back and forth from feelings of resolution to regret. Yet just as they began a complete transition, they reverted, and suddenly, it became clear that any other attempt at dissuasion would prove ultimately fruitless.

"No… It's far too late for that." The smile she sent his way was less sad than it was pained. "I had quite a fine life, after all. A couple hundred years has been more than enough for me to feel genuinely alive." Her next words were quieter, yet they carried no less gravity. "Besides, I've always told you, didn't I? You deserve a second chance. Even if it's in a world different from the one you–"

 **"raAaAAaAggGHhHH!"**

In an instant, the attendant whipped her head around, lips drawn into a thin line.

"Ah… So he's nearly here, isn't he?"

He watched helplessly as Elizabeth rose to her feet unwavering, Persona Compendium appearing instantly at her side.

"Well then… I imagine that this will be our last meeting together, Minato." The smile she offered was bitterly genuine, and he nearly didn't realize that it marked the first time he'd seen her cry. "For what it's worth… I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be with you for longer. I'm sorry I couldn't fix everything perfectly. But, as long as you live out the second chance you deserved, I know it'll all be worth it."

Slowly, Elizabeth turned her back to him – an action born not just out of necessity, but for the sake of maintaining composure. He'd tried to raise a hand to stop her – to _save_ her from fate. But a jolt of pain stopped him. It was the headache.

The damn headache.

"Wait… Elizabeth."

He could see the faintest outline of Erebus now. The menacing form that had taken the whole of his soul to stop. But even as it made its presence known amongst the void, Elizabeth stood unshakable – her figure taking a slight glow of its own.

"Elizabeth…"

The pain of his voice was audible now, and black spots danced in his vision as the migraine continued to rear its head. Yet just before the agony rendered him unconscious, he made out the trace of reassuring smile as Elizabeth turned back to him one last time.

"Goodbye… Minato."

* * *

He awoke incredulously to velvet pillows, azure sheets, and the incessant ringing of an alarm clock.

A reasonable excuse to panic, given that he shouldn't have been alive, much less able to check into an upscale apartment of any sort.

Immediately, he began searching for her within the hour. Feverishly. Desperately. But the Velvet Room had kept its silence. He sought the whereabouts of SEES as well, but like Elizabeth, they too remained out of his grasp. It was almost as though they had never existed in the first place. With no traces of their presence – not even Mitsuru's conglomerate, the Kirijo Group – even remaining.

' _You deserve a second chance. Even if it's in a world different from the one you–_

–Know.'

Her last few words rang like an omen, and with them held a dangerous implication. Steadily, he came to recognize that the world he knew – the world that he had died to protect – had been lost. That his release from the seal – and his subsequent replacement – had been no mere construct from his nightmares. It had been a bitter pill to swallow; made only more so by causation. Few could offer better candidates than himself to shoulder the burden of Erebus. To make the same sacrifice that was defending the world by coming to terms with fate. No one – especially not Elizabeth – deserved to take on that responsibility. Much less offer _him_ another chance at life.

A rational part of him still remained, however. One that knew that sullen brooding was unlike what the attendant had hoped for. And, to that end, he was able to hold off the worst of his darker thoughts. He would call to him when he needed deliverance; shattering his mind with the Evoker and waiting for the skulled helm to bow in deference. And, when he wasn't enough, others would come to his aid. Drawn by the strength of his Arcana, they would offer their support, wisdom, and guidance. Reminding him of what he was – _what_ he had been – before it all.

But, ultimately, even they were limited in number.

The signs themselves had crept up on him slowly. Perhaps three to four months into his arrival. Money and other materials, at the time, had still been nothing of a problem. The apartment he had arisen in had contained all the necessary comforts – courtesy, he imagined, of the magics Elizabeth possessed. It had been boredom – in all of its aimless glory – that had been the different story.

Initially, he had surmised that Elizabeth had some task she needed him to perform. Some mission in which he needed to partake. Yet several months in, and what he'd found instead were a slew of part-time jobs; occupations taken up for the sake keeping his thoughts off the past life he led. It was a delicate balancing act. One that juggled his sanity between lines of distraction and past demons. It was only natural that he would slip up eventually.

And, nearly six months after he was revived, he did.

The change had been abrupt. Nearly instantaneous. One moment, a cup of tea had been gently poured, ready to be fitted to his lips; the next, a crash of china and a clenched fist yielded the first traces of blood he'd seen in weeks. To say he had been shocked would have been an understatement. For someone who prided himself for his apathy, such an occurrence should have been nigh impossible.

But his hands were shaking. His legs were trembling. And a single tear had slid down his eye.

"Elizabeth…"

 _You idiot._

* * *

Remarkably, he had never been to church before.

The irony of not having done so sooner wasn't lost to him; though, in his defense, he was slightly more self-assured in the past. Now, however, his emotions were wounded enough that it wouldn't hurt to humor some of the more heavenly attuned parts of his mind. Or so he reasoned.

It had taken a prolonged period of hesitation, nevertheless, before he finally grasped the door handle. Somehow, he'd found himself at a loss. Rationally, it should have been impossible. Being intimidated by a place of worship was almost laughable, given his past experiences. Yet here he was, shaken by the weight of a past that he never realized could be so heavy.

"Um… Excuse me. Would you be here to worship as well?"

The voice nearly caught him off guard, but he managed to turn around evenly enough. There, facing him with curious green eyes, lay a blonde girl of childlike stature. Clothed in nun's garbs and wrapped in a pure sort of innocence, she seemed to have much more of a reason to be here than he had. In fact, he told the imploring girl as much.

"Oh, nonsense." The girl giggled slightly, even as a smile lit up her face. "God's love shows no prejudice toward its recipients." Suddenly, the girl's features flickered with self-doubt, only to revert back just as quickly. "At least, that's what I believe."

He chose to remain respectfully silent, even as the girl gently nudged him aside to grasp the handle's entrance herself. Still, she remained unperturbed, and turned to cheerfully meet his gaze as the door swung open on its hinges.

"My name is Asia, by the way. Would you like to take a look around?"

His response, despite his reservations, lay in the affirmative, and he soon found himself making steps across the marble nave, taking in the neatly arranged pews on either side. Asia, for her part, hadn't seemed to catch onto his reluctance, electing instead to gaze wistfully at the mosaics and stained-glass windows along the walls.

"You know, despite how it looks, this church was actually abandoned until recently."

That caught him by surprise. Even though he'd never entered, the church had still been a frequent landmark that he'd passed on the way to work. Its appearance had been nothing but pristine in all the times he'd seen it. So, he argued in its defense.

"Pristine, hmm? Why thank you." She giggled again, and the sound rang sweetly like bells. "I actually did most of the renovations myself. After flying into Japan just a few months ago, I couldn't believe the condition of this place. The church should be a sanctuary, and here it was, lying around like a mere garbage dump!"

The passion in her voice was genuine, and he couldn't help but smile gently in appreciation. Then, Asia lifted her hand to her face in a display of bashful innocence, and that appreciation soon turned into mirthful amusement.

"I-I'm sorry. That was a bit brazen, wasn't it?"

He quickly replied in the contrary. He'd simply found her honest fervor one of the more refreshing things he'd felt in months.

"Ah, I see." She smiled, then. A brilliant smile full of childish understanding. "Well, in that case, thank you."

They engaged in spurts of small talk, soon after. Bits of conversation interlaced between periods of silence and respectful meditation. To his remarks, she'd grin and laugh, and on occasion, he'd nod or smile in return.

It was only an hour later that Asia's face adopted an expression of pure embarrassment.

"Oh my! I almost forgot! You had a reason to be here other than talking to me, didn't you?"

He did. But the conversation they had shared had been enough to appease his conscience for one day. As for tomorrow, and the weeks after that, however, he had no idea. But he didn't tell her that. Instead, he opted to remain silent, unsure of just how to proceed.

"You don't have to tell me, of course. Everyone has their own stories. Their own secrets. I have some of my own as well."

He stared mutely, genuinely impressed by how quickly the girl had taken his silence in stride.

"But if there ever comes a time when you want to talk, I'll be here to listen." Asia's voice dropped to a whisper, and her brow furrowed in concentration. "Sometimes, the best thing you can do is face your problems while not alone."

The words struck him to the core, and a small part of him wondered just how much there was about Asia that he didn't know. But in the same instant, Asia's voice, as well as her demeanor, turned back to its jubilant self, and he tucked those thoughts away to the side.

"Thank you, for that."

The girl's smile was gentle but sympathetic, and for a moment, he was reminded of one of Elizabeth's own expressions.

"No problem. Come back any time, okay?"

* * *

He didn't, though. Not for a while, at least.

Elizabeth's money had run low on supply in the following weeks, and part-time jobs soon became full-time to meet his needs. But, after a month of reprieve, he gathered the courage to come back to the same church. The church where he marveled at stainless walls. Where he took in manicured gardens.

Where he managed to meet her.

He only got as far as the door handle, however, before he heard the sounds. Initially, he'd pinned it to imagination. A church, he reasoned, would've hardly be the place for such a thing, if his suspicions were to be believed. But then he heard them again. And again. And again.

The unmistakable sounds of struggle.

He lay frozen for a moment. Two. And only snapped from his stupor when a piercing cry of pain was heard from within.

Grimacing, he jerked the door open. And after a quiet glance of his surroundings, his impressions were proven correct.

An all too unfortunate chaos lay before him. Formerly arranged wooden pews lay scattered across the nave. Great swaths of sky tore gashes across once in-tact glass windows. Yet what truly caught his eye was the scene at the altar.

Asia, garbed in the robes of a priestess, chained to a crucifix in helpless surrender.

And four figures, unidentified by their black robes and turned backs, yet no doubt responsible for her condition.

He took another, almost vengeful step into the chamber. This time, it did not go unnoticed.

"I-Issei? Is that–" The girl's whisper cut off as she stared at him in disbelief. "No, it can't be… It's you?"

Her voice must have carried in volume, for the other four, too, jerked around in apparent shock. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, they only smiled crudely once they met his eyes.

"A human, hmm? I must say, we were expecting someone else, but this happenstance is equally delightful."

The three stepped back in disinterest once the fourth raised her voice. A bearded man lounged against the altar's walls, arms across his chest. A blonde girl, seemingly no more than eleven, took a seat playfully on one of the upturned pews. A brunette woman, expression set in boredom, draped her arms over a chair.

Of course, he knew what they were. The black wings. The tainted auras. They gave everything away.

But it still didn't stop the speaker, with a smile as wide as it was perverse, from catching him by surprise.

"You can die as well."

The light had manifested in her hand so suddenly, so quickly, that even his heightened alertness had trouble following the impending strike. But he dodged the projected spear nonetheless, rolling swiftly to the side while grunting slightly at the exertion.

"My, my. Not bad."

The compliment hardly invited reprieve, and he was met with two more weaponized constructs, pointed squarely at his person. He managed to shrug off one – the spear having been released sloppily and with contempt – but the second had more focus. More precision to its trajectory.

His shoulder certainly paid the price for it.

"Stop it Raynare!" Asia gasped, even as her bounds held her in place. "He's just an ordinary human! He's not involved with me, with Issei, or with any of this!

He would have been inclined to agree with the comment, if the searing pain across his arm had held any weight in his decision making. But, of course, he knew Asia. He knew of the supernatural. And while the name Issei held little weight for him, he was hardly one to reject those in need. So, he resolved to remain defiant.

"Oh? You're implying that _I_ should care?" The woman's face stretched into a leer. "Very well. Then let me offer you a piece of advice, _human_." Spiked heels clicked across marble as Raynare grew closer. "Interfering with us. Trying to save her. It's all in quite bad taste. So, I'll offer you a deal."

He stood unwavering, even as Raynare's eyes grew within mere inches away from his own.

"Leave now. This girl – this sorry excuse for a priest – is no angel. No saint. She's not worth the time or trouble. So why don't you leave her to us, and forget all about what happened here?"

He dared a glance toward Asia and confirmed what he suspected. The fear. The shame. They were plastered all over the young girl's face. He supposed, mutely, that this was what she meant by hiding secrets.

But, after another moment, he remembered that he also knew the Fallen. And – Raynare, was it? – certainly didn't appear to be the type that had her heart aligned with honest intention.

"No."

He watched as Asia's face broke out in disbelief, and as Raynare jumped back and snarled with a ferocious intensity.

"So be it."

The assault was renewed, and he hissed again as another spear grazed his cheek. Finding cover now, he realized, was an absolute necessity. But a suitable candidate? Pews had no stopping power against projections. Nor did the chunks of marble that had fallen during combat. Realistically, the only thing left was something entirely more soulful in nature.

The childish blonde was closest, and he ran behind her person even as the volley of spears gained its ground. For a second, the girl's eyes were graced with bewilderment, even as he stopped catch his breath. But, not a moment later, the spear hit its mark, and he saw Raynare wince in aversion as her compatriot lit up with fury.

"Ow, ow, ow! Watch where you're aiming, Raynare!"

"I-it's not like I meant to hit you, Mittelt!"

Mittelt. Yet another piece of information that had proven superfluous. He sported another glance at the battered girl still lying confined to his left. It appeared that her verdant eyes were glittering with an appreciation and hope that defied all danger.

"T-thank you. Thank you for–"

The grateful words were silenced by a spiked heel and a swift kick, and he watched helplessly as the girl coughed blood and nearly grew still.

"Arghhh! That's. Enough!"

The two unmolested observers rose quietly then, zeroing in coldly at the blue of his eyes. Mittelt, too, gave him the whole of her gaze, even as Raynare rose high on feathered wings.

"It appears my thrill for a good chase let you run free for too long, boy." Suddenly, the coldness of her demeanor opened up to reveal a sadistic smile. "Good thing I can still play with a mouse that doesn't have the strength to flee."

Eight projections – two for each Fallen – manifested themselves then, each yielding a different variation of the same serrated spear. Curiously, he noted that three of his attackers maintained the slightest degree of sympathy for his circumstance. But, unfortunately, sympathy had never been the best of help when it came to evasion.

Still, he managed to dodge four of them. One aimed at his head, two for his chest, and another at his hip. The others, however, hit their mark. An ankle, a thigh, a bicep, and the same damn shoulder. He would have cursed his luck if his vision hadn't been swimming in agony.

"Ah, yes. Now _this_ is how it should be." Slowly, Raynare descended from her perch, hand reaching out to mockingly caress his cheek. "Lesser beings like you had no right to be crafted by Father. We are gods compared to you. _Gods_. Please, remember that when we judge you for your crime of existing."

He jerked his head promptly, and the Fallen nearly recoiled in surprise. He had been judged before. When he faced the decrepit, decayed form of Nyx, he'd been found sorely lacking. When he attempted to stay resilient in the face of Erebus, he'd nearly buckled under the pressure.

When he saw the pained smile of Elizabeth for the last time, he'd nearly screamed defiantly against the second chance that shouldn't have been his.

Frankly, he did not like being judged.

"Oh? So, you have some fight left in you." Raynare whispered, her smirk never leaving her face. "How perfect."

He felt another sudden stab of pain, and looked down at his stomach, where a new hole had been created. The hiss he made was more out of reflex than of agony.

"I guess that means that I have all the more time to break you."

The overwhelming numbness from his body told him that _he_ was all that tethered him to consciousness. But, that was fine. Despite having not trained seriously for months, this was still no Tartarus. He had strength left to spare.

A hand reached out; pulling the spear from his left bicep with a sickening squelch. Aloofly, he watched as some of his assailants took an instinctive step back, while Raynare simply stood, appraising him in seeming approval. That, too, was fine. For far too long he'd been deprived of the feeling of adrenaline. And while a more rational part of him questioned just how and why the supernatural existed so freely in this world – especially without him having noticed for so long – his reservations were overshadowed by fervor. By passion.

 _By purpose_.

"Yes, yes! Keep going!" Raynare's cackle reverberated about the chamber. "Show me man's tenacity. Their spirit. It'll be all the more amusing when I crush it under foot."

His response was of action, not of words, and he used his one free arm to deliver it. Around the back of his waistband he reached, fingers digging until they wrapped around a cool grip and comforting hold.

He pulled it out. The responses were varying mixes of contempt and incredulity. For his closest assailant, her purple eyes bled both.

"A gun? A _gun_?" The woman's lips curled ever higher. "You think a mere firearm could defeat me? A weapon of negligible proportions? Now you're just trying to make me laugh."

He looked up at her with all his focus, then. And a creature of otherworldly beauty – with the traces of God's craftsmanship still apparent – looked back at him, unaware of her current distortion.

He lifted the Evoker to the side of his head, and silently marveled at how comforting the barrel was to his skin.

"No, don't do it!" Asia barely managed to choke out the words, even as she struggled to resist her bonds. "Don't give up! You, who had the strength to believe in me, know that you aren't weak! I believe in–"

Whatever words of motivation she had were silenced by Mittelt, who smashed viciously into her side with another kick. He looked on with what was becoming dangerously close to rage before finally clamping down. Soon after, he realized he'd never given the girl his name.

"Now, now. Don't mind her." Raynare's gaze hadn't swayed at all, having remained immune to the commotion behind her. "If that's your end game, I invite you to do it. Try and kill yourself out of fear. Know that matching my power is an impossibility."

He continued staring defiantly, index finger grazing the trigger. He had the one he wanted in mind. They were Fallen. Beings that, while flawed, were no guiltier that humanity. All they needed was a righteous kind of Salvation. One that he had the faculty to provide.

"After all, it's all you humans can do. Dying without being able to protect a thing."

Or, at least that's what he felt before he heard those words.

In that moment, something inside him broke. Suddenly he was back, staring at the corrupted visage of Nyx, as he realized it was humanity that had encouraged its own destruction. Suddenly he was back, glaring wearily at the monstrous form of Erebus, as he lacked the means to truly dispel him.

Suddenly he was back, pleading with the selfless form of Elizabeth as she took on the sacrifice that was his to bear.

She was right. He hadn't been able to protect _her_ , had he?

Slowly he watched as Raynare took it all in. His trembling fingers. His eyes flickering uncharacteristically in indecision. It was enough to make her lick her lips to savor each passing second, and he just nearly felt powerless to stop her.

"Now then, would you please die for me?"

But it was only _just_ , though.

A new persona answered his call in his moment of weakness. An all too different manifestation of the soul that bred a much more sinister intent. But he paid the particulars little heed. By then, his gaze had hardened over; back to the characteristic steadiness it once had.

He pulled the trigger, and hesitation became nonexistent.

There was an instant sense of weightlessness when he felt it. The sudden splash of liquid chill entering his mind. He welcomed it. Invited it. And then turned the power bubbling for release into a tidal wave.

 _I am Thou, and Thou art I._

Her childish, almost fairy like voice rose from the nothingness, and a blue dress draped itself to the edges of her knees.

 _I am the revenant of fables. Insanity, born from the power of imagination._

Her bleached blonde locks burst into existence, and even Raynare – along with the rest – took a step back in trepidation.

 _From the Rabbit Hole, I come. From the Looking Glass, I see._

Tendrils of magic twisted around her ankles, while red eyes stared with seeming innocence at the crowd of attackers.

 _I am Alice of Wonder and Madness._

Slowly, ruby eyes turned to appraise him – his beaten and bloodied condition – only to whip around with more hardness than a child should have been capable of mustering.

 _And it appears that you have just injured Minato._

Without warning, three tendrils of darkness violently ripped out the spears that had kept him bound in place. Then, two more appeared, steadying his person as he readjusted to standing on his own two feet.

He noticed, for their part, that Raynare and her Fallen had become considerably more terrified.

 **Now then, would** ** _you_** **please die for me?**

Yet despite himself, he couldn't help but laugh slightly at her ironic choice of words.

* * *

Author's Note

It's hard, I believe, to compare anything to greatness. A Demon Among Devils has set the standard for all Persona and DxD crossover fics, and rightfully so. Its prose is brilliant. Its characters are masterfully crafted. Its plot is expertly designed.

But all the same, I believe that new ideas with Minato and the DxD Universe are still possible to cultivate.

I suppose, then, if I were to describe this fic, I would say that it answers a question. What if, instead of remaining completely apathetic and accepting of his surroundings, Minato acts… human? What if he remains vulnerable to the demons that had consumed his past self for so long, even after being transplanted to a crossover scenario such as this?

The possibilities, I believe, are more interesting than you might think.

* * *

 _Revised: 6/12/19_


	2. Chapter 2

In all, the four of them had lasted for three minutes.

Just three minutes, and then their chapel was leveled.

In truth, he should have expected it. That the one he called to fight them – no, to _massacre_ them – wouldn't have paid heed to collateral damage. Wooden pews, once merely scattered, lay obliterated in innumerable pieces. Colored-glass fragments, perhaps previously reparable, found themselves ground to fine dust. Even the church's marble clerestory, easily one of its finer, more ornate features, saw itself caved in, allowing for the scarlet, afternoon sunlight to embellish the scene.

He took a step forward, into blood, and let loose a sigh.

 _Do you regret it? That we played this roughly with them?_

Alice's voice was soft, and he turned, reflecting on the mutilated, decapitated corpses that littered the concrete beyond. He could imagine how his fellow members of SEES would react. Mitsuru would fix her gaze at him, lips pressed and eyes set in condemnation. Yukari would be less composed, her horrified features bearing the brunt of the scene. Likely, the only one who would defend him would be Junpei, but even then, his protests would be half-hearted and largely disturbed.

In the end, these were not shadows. Fallen they may have been, but these were once living, breathing people.

And yet, despite every rational part of his mind telling him otherwise, he couldn't bring himself to feel a thing.

"I don't know, Alice."

The girl's eyes followed him him carefully, and he watched, mutely, before throwing his head back in a sigh.

"I know I should. I know had the capacity to avoid this - to avoid all of this." Slowly, his lips pursed into a thin line. "And yet, I don't. Not really, anyway."

There was a moment of silence as he watched her take in his words; as a pale eyebrow raised itself neutrally in his direction. Half-expectantly, he wondered if she had been meaning to praise his aloofness just then. If, in the subsequent seconds, his bitterly maintained indifference would have been commended with a brilliant smile and a childish laugh.

Then, without warning, she made a move and spoke.

 _Why is that, do you think? Is it because this isn't your world? Because this isn't your responsibility?_

The words were as surprising as they were concerned, and he froze, even as the girl crossed her hands behind her back deliberately. Admittedly, it wasn't as though her claim was far-fetched. To have been separated from another world - his world - had caused him no small amount of grief. But for his lack of mercy to have been solely derived from that detachment? For his anger and rage to have been born from his indifference to those surrounding his second chance? Perhaps those thoughts had been subliminal, yes, but surely - _surely_ \- he hadn't the temperament to bring them to fruition.

Had he?

"I..."

He hesitated, unnerved, only for a girl's raised hand and a soft sigh to soon follow.

 _I_ _'m not blind to how you feel, Minato. I know that I_ _'m usually the one that leads you on with these sorts of things._

Soberly, he looked on as she went to him then. And ruby eyes, probing for answers best left unsaid, gazed back in silent concern.

 _So, tell me. Something happened before the battle, didn't it?_

And instinctively, his thoughts went back to Elizabeth. How he thought of failing her when he'd raised the gun to his head. How he thought of losing her when he'd finally put it down. And how, when the girl in front of him looked toward him with solemn eyes, his subconscious doubts had become far, far more tangible.

 _… That_ _'s what I thought._

Deliberately, Alice pulled away, lips set in a frozen impassivity. For a moment, he wondered if she saw just how much turmoil was bubbling beneath the surface. Just how much the uncertainty of his own accountability was begging for release. Perhaps, if she had, she would've seen him unsettled, disheartened, and not in the least frightened-

Yet just as the tension blanketed everything, he heard her quietly sigh. And a small part of him realized that it was the most conflicted sound he'd ever heard the girl make in his life.

 _I_ _'ll be honest with you Minato. I_ _'m at a loss at what to do here._

Her measured eyes took in the whole of the scene before them, and he looked on, wordlessly.

 _Personally, I think you_ _'re right. You don_ _'t owe this world anything. You aren_ _'t obligated to be its savior. You aren_ _'t required to be its Messiah._

Her back was turned to him now, and she skipped gingerly across Raynare's upturned, nearly unidentifiable corpse.

 _These Fallen, after all, attacked you first. These men and women dared to cause you pain, and we had every right to destroy them._

She knelt down for a moment, fingers tracing lines across ever-growing puddles of blood.

 _But I also know that that wasn_ _'t how you normally think._

In the next, she rose and looked forward, still palming the stain of scarlet between her fingers.

 _And no matter how happy I am that you chose me over the others, the you that summoned me wasn_ _'t the same person that I pledged to play with for all eternity._

The girl paused before she whirled to face him, and she sighed heavily as she shifted her feet upon the debris of pews.

 _Big Sister Elizabeth_ _'s sacrifice, Minato_ _… it hurt us all. It hurt us just as much as its haunting you now._

Slowly, her heels clicked back across the aisle, and her cerulean dress fluttered ever so slightly at the movement.

 _But while I can't support you like she could or instill confidence in you like Sister_ _Virtue can, what I will do is_ _always protect you._

She cast the full of her gaze toward him then, and suddenly, he found himself wrapped in a tight embrace.

 _And right now, regardless of how you feel about the past, there's still someone here for whom you wanted to do the same._

Her head motioned to the one area of the church that she deliberately left untouched, and for an instant, time seemed to stand still.

 _Or, am I wrong?_

Gingerly, he held her gaze before acknowledging her embrace, lips set in a shaky, breathy sigh. No, she wasn't wrong. There was no denying now the impact of Elizabeth's sacrifice. No ignoring the way in which she impacted himself and his personas. By all accounts, the only thing he should have had left to feel was unease. Unease toward his now flappable partiality. Unease toward his now irresolute tenacity. Unease about fears, doubts, and concerns that, no matter Alice's intentions, could never be assuaged by her alone.

And yet...

There was still a girl. Battered, but willing to protect him.

There was still a girl. Battered, but needing protection.

He swallowed. There were still too many doubts torturing his mind. But even as indecision bubbled to the surface, the sense of urgency was too great to be ignored.

"No… No, you're not."

He haltingly broke from her embrace, then. Worn shoes plodding slowly over stained concrete and remnants of death. Hesitantly, he wondered if she'd catch on to what amounted to instability, kept together by a feeble sense of duty. But whether out of ignorance or from playing dumb, Alice only nodded, and gave an empathetic smile.

 _Right. That is what you'd say, huh?_

The girl's arms crossed behind her back, and suddenly she paused, the tired look on her face replaced by a childish pout.

 _Well fine! Be that way! I mean, do you have any idea how hard it was for me to say that? I_ _'ve wanted to get you in the mood to destroy the world with me for years!_

The sudden, tone-shifted rhetoric was so absurd – so _Alice_ – that he almost reared back in surprise. But he caught himself – just barely – before he finally weighed his words.

"I... What?"

The half-hearted reprimand was met with a giggle from the girl, and he watched, bemusedly, as she raised a hand to cover her mouth.

 _I'm kidding, I'm kidding._

He watched, bewildered, as she offered up an exaggerated wink.

 _Well, for now, anyway._

She cleared her throat, then. A sweet 'ahem' that signaled the fruitlessness of any further protest.

 _In any case, I_ _'ll leave you to handle the rest. I_ _'m not the one you need for this job, after all._

The girl turned her back to him slowly. Contemplatively. Only to shift her head back in his direction several moments later.

 _Though, just remember Minato. No matter what happens because of today, I_ _'ll always be by your side. We_ _'ll always be by your side._

Her serious mask broke, allowing for a cordial smile and a playful curtsey.

 _So please. Don_ _'t hesitate to play with me again._

A childish giggle followed, and then the girl was gone, dissipating into nothingness at the same time the echo of her words registered in mind. He stood perfectly still for a moment. Two. Until finally, after musing over the fickleness over understanding Alice of Wonderland, he looked back to the figure at his feet with even eyes and a final sigh of resolution.

The chains, he decided, would go first. Asia's bonds were unsightly, and he made a point of making quick work of them, leaving only the remnants of red chafe marks behind. It was her assorted injuries that were an entirely different matter. Gradually, he laid the girl down across the altar, taking note of the areas of contention. A bruised hip. A gash in her stomach. Perhaps even a broken rib. He considered a course of action for another moment, and then spoke softly, Evoker in hand.

"Persona."

The summon manifested with little fanfare, even as the sparkling air gave birth to an unmistakable fairylike form.

 _"You called, Minato?_ _"_

The girl's red hair bounced slightly when she spoke, and he watched silently as her cerulean dress twirled leisurely in the air. She had not been his first choice. He had wanted Titania at first, or even a light type persona that had inherited the Divine Grace to heal. But the thought of Pixie had persisted in his mind. Pixie, whose mannerisms were so similar to Alice's that he would have sworn relation, had arose amongst his thoughts unprovoked. Pixie, whose bubbling personality was so endearing that Elizabeth herself took fancy, had been considered almost subconsciously.

If the choice hadn't been so bittersweet, he would have commended fate for its poetic irony.

 _"Minato? Helloooo?_ _"_

His head jerk startledly, snapped from his stupor by both the whimsical words and the girl's nudging fingers. For her part, Pixie managed to stay aloft, even as the movement sent her sprawling from her former place on his head. But her apparent annoyance was an entirely different matter.

"Sorry about that, Pixie."

The words did little to console the girl, and she huffed angrily, arms crossed.

 _"Well, watch what you_ _'re doing the next time you space out!_ _"_ Her diatribe was met with respectful silence, and she spared a wary glance in his direction. _"What did you even need me for, anyway?_ _"_

He gestured with a delicate hand toward the broken cross and the battered girl that lay beside it.

"A Mediarahan."

The girl's eyes widened at the words, and her irritated expression flickered from surprise to concern.

 _"Oh._ _"_

The muted exclamation was spoken with sheepishness and grace, even as auburn eyes finally took in the whole of the scene before them. For a moment, he wondered if Pixie would flinch at the sight of the others he left behind. The series of disfigured corpses that lay dismembered across the floor.

But instead, she simply reached out and glowed.

The work was one he'd seen numerous time before, yet the sight was no less breathtaking. Slashed skin reknit itself to flawless perfection. Dismembered tendons realigned themselves as if possessed. Even the holes in his abdomen – only sloppily repaired by Thanatos's will – transmuted themselves back to their normal, caramel color without delay.

And yet, as he cast a glance to the one responsible, he couldn't help but notice traces of her muted dissatisfaction.

"Pixie, is something–"

The girl's right hand shot up to interrupt him, only for the other to gesture toward the source of her confusion.

 _"Look._ _"_

He turned, cerulean eyes surveying Asia's frame with an even curiosity. There didn't seem to be anything particularly wrong with the girl. Her bruises had recolored from a hideous purple to cream. Her gashes had sewn themselves back to stunning perfection. If anything, the final sight of her ribs repairing themselves amongst a sea of green should have been an indication of success, not–

–Wait.

Why _was_ she glowing green?

 _"I_ _'m not responsible for that, if that_ _'s what you_ _'re wondering._ _"_ The girl's brows furrowed, and her eyes looked toward him pensively. _"In fact, I_ _'m fairly certain I only acted as a catalyst._ _"_

He paused heavily, eyes staring evenly as he digested her implication.

"Are you suggesting that she's healing herself subconsciously?"

She bit her lip, and translucent wings fluttered slightly before responding.

 _"No, she herself isn_ _'t doing it. Something inside of her is._ _"_ The next words were sat on for several moments; almost as if what they insinuated would be too monumental to bear. _"And that something_ _… it feels familiar._ _"_

His response was instinctively whispered, even though he could hardly believe the thought himself.

"A Nihil Weapon."

The girl's silence served as tentative affirmation, and he froze, incredulous. The presence of the supernatural was one thing, but the potential existence of other Personas? Did that mean that there were others with the potential, just like him in this world? Did that mean that the possibility of returning to his own world wasn't as impossible as it seemed? The questions kept flooding his mind, and for a moment, he struggled to even comprehend the scale of the possibilities.

Until suddenly, without warning, the unmistakable sounds of clamoring strides were heard just outside the door.

Decidedly, his response was quick, or as quick as his formerly pensive state would allow. Pixie still remained at his side, perturbed, and he faced her with a seriousness all too reflective of the potential danger at hand.

"Go. Now."

The girl left with an understanding nod, vanishing from mind and matter the moment he turned a wary eye toward the buckling doors. Already, his hand had reached out, palming the stock of his Evoker with steady, yet careful fingers. While, in the forefront of his mind, other personas lay in wait, bracing him for what he only supposed to be other Fallen, ready to avenge their murdered compatriots.

The sight that actually bore fruit, however, was decidedly not what he expected.

Two figures, one blonde and one white-haired, had burst onto scene. The former, likely responsible for having kicked the door of its hinges, appeared to be the leader of the pair. While the latter, with her petite frame and tightened fists, seemed to be the blonde's junior only in age. Certainly, the spectacle was worth pause, even if the both of them didn't come off as Fallen. But while the irony of high school students yet again playing interventionalists wasn't lost to him, he couldn't help but feel as though the pair was waiting for another to join their–

"Asia!"

Ah. There it was.

The voice originated from a brown-eyed brunette, and he watched as the boy continued, clamoring between his two companions in the process.

"Don't worry! We've come to save…"

The boy's voice tapered off suddenly, and he cocked his head after a moment, confused. Clearly the trio were not Fallen, if their intention to 'save' was any indication. So why had one of their number looked on in horror at the scene before him?

Then, it hit him.

The chapel.

Sighing softly, he pulled his hands back, Evoker realigning to his waistband in a gesture of abashed conciliation. His eyes maintained contact for another moment. Two. Until finally, one of the party opposite to him broke the silence.

"Did you… do this?"

It was the blonde that had spoken, and he watched as he gestured vaguely to the disfigured corpses to his front.

"… I did."

The silence overtook the room again, and he paused, only to raise Asia bridal style in an effort to display her healthy condition.

"Did you… save her?"

The action had its desired effect, for the white-haired girl had spoken, eyes narrow and full of trepidation.

"I did."

The reply was as succinct as before, and he looked on mutely as he was met with hushed whispers instead of silent tones. Then, as if a switch was flipped, the blonde turned to him with what he could only describe as measured respect, and bowed.

"In that case, we should thank you, sir. We didn't mean to inconvenience you with the trouble."

He paused, barely reigning in an expression of stupefaction. He had experienced his fair share of formal reverence – Elizabeth had never hesitated to tease him at his expense – but to receive one from an utter stranger? If the comment hadn't pressed an immediate reply, he likely would have remained stunned by the perpetual discomfort.

"Yes, well… she was a victim of fate. That's all."

The words were met with silence from both parties, and he couldn't help but recognize the underlying tension as he took the opportunity to walk toward the exit. It was an action that encouraged a growing unease across the group's face. One that he far from blind to. But ignoring it, lest create future conflict, appeared more attractive than the alternatives.

Oh, how he wished things could have been that simple.

"Please, wait!"

He turned, just meters from the door, and regarded the brunette that had spoken with an even gaze. For his part, the boy did not wither, contrary to how squeamish he'd appeared when taking in the gruesome scenery beyond. But all the same, when the blonde wrenched him to the side and whispered harshly into his ear, his tone became much more reserved.

"I know how much you've helped us by saving Asia. But… we need to take her with us, _sir_."

The abrupt addition of the formality – likely a product of the blonde's scolding – wasn't lost to him, but he paid its artificiality little heed. For now, as he looked over the remaining members of the trio – their eyes tense in wary agreement – he couldn't help but wonder what prompted such a vast display of emotional inconsistency.

Unless…

 _I-Issei? Is that-?_

"…Would any of you happen to be named Issei?"

The question, born from one of Asia's own statements, couldn't have been more out of context. But as he watched the brunette blink hard in surprise, he couldn't help but nod inwardly at the confirmation of his own suspicions.

"T-that would be me, sir."

The boy – no, Issei – looked tentatively in his direction, doubtlessly unsure of what he would do with the information. And in return, he leveled an approving gaze toward chocolate eyes.

"In that case, you may follow."

The response seemed to embolden the remaining members of the trio, and he was quick to whirl a wary glance in their direction.

"Only him, though."

"But–"

It was with reluctance that he allowed Alice's thoughts to mesh with the very edges of his mind, even as navy eyes faced the two before him with a renewed coldness. And while he was certain that her eerie, childlike giggles were heard only to him, the way in which the blonde flinched and the girl visibly recoiled spoke more volumes than words ever could.

" _Only_ him."

This time, as he walked away with the dumbstruck boy in tow, no one made a move to stop him.

* * *

"Would you like any tea?"

The question seemed to startle Issei, even as his offer was appraised with wary, yet tempted eyes. In truth, their walk back to his home had been uneventful enough, with the boy having only spared glances at Asia's unconscious condition. Yet by the time he'd arrived at his apartment, set Asia down in a back room, and prepared refreshments for the both of them, he'd begun to realize that the mutual silence was more forced for the boy than it was natural for him.

Acting like a proper host, he supposed, had the potential to break a barrier or two.

"Y-yes. Thank you, sir."

He paused, navy eyes boring hard into the boy's uneasy gaze. The teacups, fortunately, had filled by him in time. Otherwise, they may have overflowed amongst his lapse of concentration.

"Please, stop addressing me so formally. It… reminds me too much of someone I know."

He watched as Issei blinked slowly, face set in a look of utter bewilderment.

"But… aren't you a high-class devil?"

It was his turn to blink dumbfoundedly now, even as Issei continued, oblivious to his surprise.

"I mean, Kiba told me so, and he's my senior in these sorts of things." The boy took a moment to clear his throat before offering a shallow impersonation. "'With all of this cursed energy, that man has to be a devil like us, if not stronger!'" He paused, hand cupping his chin in thought. "Or… at least that's how I think he sounded."

There were a myriad of questions running through his head by the time the boy finished. Was Alice's magic so potent that even remnants of it could attract the supernatural? Was there an Underworld class structure that went beyond his traditional knowledge? Was Issei's implication of 'devils like us' what he thought it meant?

But instead, he replied rather lamely.

"I'm not a devil."

The interjection was enough to break Issei's concentration, and the boy regarded him with even more confusion.

"But then… how did you save Asia?"

The question was one that invited an answer; one that he did not feel comfortable giving. So, he did the next best thing.

He changed the subject.

"I'm human. That's all you need to know."

The boy took a moment to process his response, chocolate eyes narrowing as he spoke slowly and deliberately.

"So… all that time, you _weren't_ trying to make Asia join your peerage?"

The question was yet another that provoked untouched knowledge, and he resolved to address it later when he had the luxury.

"No. I only intended to help her recover."

The boy seemed satisfied with his response, and sighed relievedly by the end of their exchange.

"Oh, thank goodness." He watched as Issei took a moment to wipe his brow. "If you're human that means there won't be any complications with the President."

The moniker of another unknown variable was a point of note to him, but he remained warily observant. If his suspicions were correct, after all, humans weren't supposed to be privy to the sort of information that the boy – or was he a devil? – just finished disclosing.

He imagined Issei's gradual transformation from complacency to dread was a testament to that.

"Wait… if you're human, then I just disclosed secrets of the supernatural to you, didn't I?" The sheer astonishment of the exclamation was almost amusing, and he kept a respectful silence as Issei's eyes darted back and forth in panic. "Although…" The boy paused before focusing on him with renewed curiosity. "You're probably Sacred Gear user too, aren't you?"

He paused, gaze steady even as he digested the new information. Perhaps, in hindsight, he should have expected that supernatural contrivances in this world would never hesitate to surprise him.

"Sacred Gear?"

"You know, the blessed artifacts bestowed by God himself?" The boy seemed unmindful of his ignorance, and continued on, wistfully. "They come in a variety of forms, though apparently, the strongest gears can help humans surpass even gods. The President knows all the details, though, so you'll have to ask her."

Yes, he supposed there would be merit in establishing rapport with 'The President.' For the time being, though, he could assume that Gears and Nihil Weapons were less than synonymous. Albeit, if Asia _did_ have a Sacred Gear, not a Nihil Weapon, there was something to be said about how Pixie almost couldn't discern the difference.

"I would appreciate that, yes."

The reply was met with a nod of approval, and a comfortable silence followed before a _buzz_ from the boy's phone interjected. He had been watching Issei take the first sips of his tea – green, his personal favorite – at the time, so he'd had the luxury of witnessing the boy's face grow three shades more panicked as he scrolled through his notifications.

"President… onto the operation… come back before…"

Issei's murmurs were broken, but he had a reasonable guess as to why a sense of urgency was slowly overwhelming his tone.

He had forcefully taken the boy from his compatriots, after all.

"Shoot! I'm really sorry, but I've got to go!" The exclamation was complimented by a sudden rise from his seat, and he nearly winced as the boy downed the rest of his tea – piping hot, by his standards – in one go. "Thanks for the tea!"

He made way to rise himself, navy eyes still trained on the boy's movements as he sprinted clumsily toward the door. For a moment, he nearly expected Issei to knock over a vase, a table, perhaps even an entire curtain in his feverish getaway. But he found himself surprised when the boy stopped at the door handle, mused in silence for a second, and then turned around to face him again.

"Wait um… actually…"

Issei paused, expectantly, and he took a moment before recognizing that the cause lay in his own ineptitude for introduction.

"Minato. Minato Arisato."

"Right. Minato. I was wondering…" A brief flash of discomfort met the boy's eyes. "How did you know my name?"

He blinked, hard. The question was understandable. In fact, he was almost surprised that it took so long for either of them to recognize it.

"Asia told me."

"Asia… right." Issei paused, and the room was plunged into another round of silence. "Do you… think she'll be alright?"

He resolved to be conservative, not generous, with his answer.

"She was in critical condition when I came across her. Give her some time to wake."

"Yah… of course."

The boy grasped the door handle with a tentative click, and he watched as Issei's gaze remained hesitantly trained to his person.

"Sorry, one more question. You… killed Raynare, right?"

He ventured to answer warily in the affirmative, but the boy raised his hands quickly in conciliation.

"It's not like I don't think that you did." Issei chewed his lip. "It's just… I was planning to do the same. But after I saw the aftermath in the church, and the bodies–" The boy's voice cut off sharply, only to regain composure a moment later. "I don't think I would have been able to do what you did."

The words struck him to the core, and it took a shaky breath and a hard blink before he could shrug off the entirety of the implication.

"What I did… it's not something to be proud of, you know."

He could have sworn that Issei looked prepared to say something else to him in that moment. Something that likely would have ended the conversation there and then. But as quickly as that flicker came, it went. And as he watched the boy look hesitantly in his direction, it became clear that his curiosity would not be overshadowed so easily.

"… It hurt, didn't it?"

He thought of their desperate struggle, their terrified screams, and their cries for mercy.

And how, throughout it all, the unease he'd stifled with Alice had returned to rear its ugly head.

"… I don't know."

* * *

It had been an exaggerated superstition held by the Angels that misfortune and despair were all that awaited the Fallen after Heaven. That, on any given day, God would rise from his throne and rain fire and curses upon the likes of his creation without the slightest hint of reservation. If such were indeed the case, Raynare liked to think that she had the uncanny favor of Lady Luck on her side. That by following Kokabiel and creating a world free of 'vermin,' fate had shown her its endearment, instead of its traditional spite.

 _Why do you run, you four? Don't you care that I went through all the trouble of asking you nicely?_

It had not taken long, of course, for her to realize that she had been sorely, _sorely_ mistaken.

"Dohnaseek!" She grimaced, even as another tendril of darkness narrowly missed her shoulder. "What the hell are we going up against?"

"It's not a matter of _what_ , Raynare." Dohnaseek's eyes screamed in panic. "It's a matter of–"

 _Well, it doesn't matter. We can play one of my favorite games in the meantime. It's called tag!_

Whatever reply the man had was cut off by a grunt of exertion, and she watched, wide-eyed, as ebony wings dove hurriedly past another attack. She winced inwardly. Dohnaseek had been one of the strongest among them – an analyst that absolutely thrived in the heart of battle.

For him to be at his limit at the start of a fight spoke more volumes than words ever could.

"Don't waste time asking needless questions, Raynare! She already told us her name!"

Another of her allies answered in Dohnaseek's stead, having been graced with the fortune of a second's reprieve. Provided the same luxury, she would have growled in exasperation. She knew the obvious. She too had been there when the girl was summoned. The problem was understanding just _how_ their assailant had managed to derive her power.

"How does it not bother you that Alice of _Wonderland_ is well-versed in the Dark Arts of Hell, Kalawarner?"

The act of retorting only distracted her for a second, yet it was nearly enough. She cursed loudly. A second shadowed projectile had slammed mere centimeters from the wall next to her. A distance only made harmless by a light spear's timely deflection.

"For God's sake, Raynare, look around you! Do you really think we can afford to worry about that now?"

Numbly, she spared Mittelt a nod of thanks, even as the true grimness of the words reared its head. To her right, Kalawarner's defense had been pushed to the brink, her arcane projections only barely countering those of her aggressor. To her left, Dohnaseek's evasion had grown tenuous, his battered frame becoming visibly wearier with each dive. And to her front, Alice's smile had grown ever larger, her hands charging an attack that looked poised to hit the church's marble clerestory.

Wait.

The clerestory?

"Mittelt! Above you!"

The scream had been so sudden; so uncharacteristic; that for a moment, even she'd failed to process the words as her own. But her words, they had been. And as the ensuing cloud of plaster and rock exploded from the ceiling, she could have sworn that her companion's eyes had widened in absolute terror at her folly.

 _Ha, ha! Tag, you're dead!_

A cry of agony followed the sing-song voice almost immediately, and she turned, horrified, toward the sickening sound of flesh upon stone. There, on the ground, Mittelt lay utterly pummeled. Her blonde colored locks, once smooth and without flaws, lay caked with blood. Her aquamarine eyes, once vibrant and full of life, became dull and faded.

And her onyx wings, once famed for their beauty amongst the Fallen, saw themselves twisted grotesquely between the might of four, Hellish tendrils.

"Mittelt!" Her eyes burned with rage, even as she passed over Alice's satisfied form. "You… you… bitch!"

 _Hmm? Are you talking to me?_

Four more cursed projections rose instantly beneath her, and for a moment, she was caught completely by surprise. Barely, she dodged the first, a wild bank yielding better results than even she'd originally anticipated. But the others – the second and third – hit their mark, clipping her wings and leaving her helplessly vulnerable.

There was not a doubt in her mind that she would have died had Dohnaseek not tackled her out of the fourth tendril's way.

"Raynare, what the hell do you think you're doing!" She whirled around, violet eyes watching dazedly as Dohnaseek and Kalawarner took defensive positions around her. "Fighting her alone isn't just insane; it's utter suicide!"

"That girl just killed _Mittelt_ , Dohnaseek." She coughed. A bitter sound that sided between that of grief and anger. "I wasn't going to let her death be for nothing."

"You idiot. Neither were we!" Kalawarner shouted exasperatedly, even as one eye monitored the bemused form of their aggressor. "All we were waiting for was the right opportunity to fight her together. Right, Dohnaseek?" Her confidence was met with silence, and she turned to him, confused. "Dohnaseek?"

The man shifted his head to the side, navy eyes gazing regretfully at the floor below. "No… it's as I said before. Fighting that girl is impossible. This was simply an avenue to secure our retreat."

"Wait… you're serious?" She watched, mutely, as Kalawarner's eyes lit up with the same fury hers had. "You want us to abandon Mittelt because you're afraid of a little girl?"

"She's not just a little girl!" Dohnaseek's protests were desperate, and she realized, suddenly, just how terrified he truly appeared. "Please… I already tried to warn Raynare before I was cut off earlier. The fables; the stories. What they don't bother mentioning is that the real Alice _died._ This must be her vengeance given form _._ A ghost that's been forcibly resurrected. We aren't just fighting Alice of Wonderland you two; we're fighting the first recorded instance of a resurrection by the Underworld!"

The revelation was one that reverberated through the room, and she, like Kalawarner, lay stunned by the implication. She hadn't known much of the peerage system implemented by the devils. Only that Ajuka Beelzebub lay at its heart. But while her regard for _that_ boy was telling of her opinion on human resurrection, if Dohnaseek – Heaven's former archivist – thought that the girl before them was one of Ajuka's first test subjects, there were few things that had the potential to be worse.

 _Oh! You know Uncle Belial and Uncle Nebiros?_

And yet, somehow, fate seemed to be bent on proving her wrong.

"B-Belial and Nebiros?"

Kalawarner stuttered in Dohnaseek's shell-shocked stead, even as she herself lay utterly frozen in fear. Never mind Ajuka. For this girl to have been associated with _true_ Archdemons was something almost worth doubling over in terror for.

 _I'll admit, Uncle Nebiros is probably my favorite. But people always say I take more after Uncle Belial. I'm melodramatic, apparently._

She watched, stricken, as the girl pouted, only to cross her arms behind her back in silent appraisement.

 _Honestly. You'd think demons would understand the difference between insanity and brazenness._

The utter flippancy in which the girl mentioned the champions of Hell; the complete disregard for the gravity of her claims. If she hadn't heard it herself, she wouldn't have believed it. Truly, there was no way to win. There was nowhere to run. There was no way to _live_.

And yet, as she continued staring at the girl who had seemingly stopped all means of attack for the sake of conversation, a desperate gamble dawned upon her.

"Y-you know of the original Satans? How?"

The inquiry was only stuttered by Dohnaseek, and she silently thanked whatever divine powers existed that gave the two of them the same idea.

 _How? Oh, it's not much of a story._

Alice's gaze had bored down on her partner, and she took the opportunity to shuffle just inside the girl's blind spot.

 _You had the right idea before, after all, Mister Fallen. I did die. In Wonderland, I might add._

Perhaps, the more she thought about it, the plan was suicidal. Using Asia as a bargaining chip against the girl. But her options were limited, and her chances of survival otherwise without Twilight Healing, even more so.

 _It was the Queen of Hearts. She was quite rude, really. Sentencing me to death before I even had a chance to play with her._

She could see the altar, only several meters back, after taking another step. It was just a matter of getting there quietly while Dohnaseek kept the girl occupied.

 _That's why Uncle Belial and Uncle Nebiros resurrected me. To give me an eternity to play with the ones I missed._

Offhandedly, she noted that the girl's jubilance appeared genuine, before she refocused her mind out of concentration. She was almost there now. Perhaps four meters away.

 _There was a sacrificial perquisite before I could be reanimated though… ten-thousand souls, I believe?_

"T-ten thousand?"

Kalawarner's voice rang incredulously, and she cursed under her breath for the woman's momentary lapse of sensitivity. They were Fallen. Beings supreme over a fair portion of God's creations. Humans were nothing to them. They were _less_ than nothing to them.

... But _ten-thousand_ of them?

 _Yes, the number was quite low, I know. I actually asked for more playmates before Uncle Belial turned me down._

She shook her head vigorously, even as the girl's indifference broke another portion of her courage. She needed to clear her head. She was so close now. Only one meter away from striking distance.

 _But that's all in the past now. In fact…_

She just needed to get to Asia. She just needed to get to Asia. She just needed to get to–

… _It's about time that I should start addressing_ _ **you.**_

–Asia.

Without warning, two shadowed hands grabbed her by the throat while another, heart-shaped spear pierced cleanly through her abdomen. Instinctively, she reached out to scream. To cry out against the ones that left her in agony. But the incorporeal grip around her windpipe held her fast. And by the time she was thrown across the aisle and back into the range of the girl responsible, she could barely so much as croak out in anguish.

 _What you did just then was quite rude, you know? Not only did you interrupt my conversation, but you also nearly injured a very important girl._

She watched, through blurred eyes, as the girl reached out to grab her chin in contempt.

 _But there is a bright side to this. You did, after all, make me remember one last detail about my story._

The girl's hand let her free without warning, and she struggled to make out her compatriots amongst the haze of her own blood. She'd been stupid. So, so stupid. There had been no opening. No means of attack. The shadowed figures that had appeared from nowhere had surrounded all of them now. And their spears all lay leveled directly at their chests.

 _You see, Miss Fallen, after I was resurrected, Uncle Nebiros gave me a choice. I could play from the start of my new life, or I could first to go back to Wonderland._

She watched as the girl hopped slowly away from the center of the aisle, and as Dohnaseek gasped horrifically at her implication.

 _As you may have guessed, I killed the Queen the moment I got back._

The girl smiled then. A smile that was so meshed between the lines of psychosis and ecstasy that she almost wretched at the sight.

 _Her guards made great playmates. They're good at cards, chess, and sometimes, they even kill at my request._

The shadows' avatars grew even more alert then, and she, like the others, fell to her knees at the sickening revelation of their identities. She couldn't die here. Kokabiel needed her. If not through the girl, if not through her magic, she'd have to appeal to the one that controlled the monster.

 _But the greatest thing, I think, is that they taught me a funny little phrase._

She turned her head, then, in one last act of desperation. One last act meant to meet the eyes of the only boy capable of showing them mercy.

 _Let's see if I can remember it…_

And immediately, she wished she hadn't.

 _... Oh, right. That's it!_

Because when she finally closed her eyes; when she ultimately shut off her senses in resignation; not one, but _two_ monsters had smiled.

 **Off. With. Their. Heads.**

And all she could think of was that it looked horribly, _horribly_ wrong.

* * *

Author's Note

I'll start with the obvious first.

Alice is… different. Both SMT and Persona wikis are inconclusive in who she actually represents – some say she's the vengeful spirit of a young girl, while others argue that her origin lies with Wonderland – but I've decided to make her a medley of characteristics that make her more than just her _Die For me!_ Line. (By the way, those shadowed guards were the actual ability, the previous chapter was more for dramatics). She's still the protective, almost yandere-like, destroy-the-world Alice that most people know, but she also serves as an understanding confidant for Minato. A confidant that's been with him for so long that she knows his limits, and respects those boundaries instead of always pushing her destructive tendencies.

That said, she's still the niece of two _very powerful_ Archdemons, hence… well… the 'massacre' scene. More on her 'Uncles' later when future chapters reveal my take on Persona's Underworld. Because believe me. Minato choosing to not destroy the world does _not_ translate to wanting to save it.

In any case, though, this chapter marks the beginning of some _very_ interesting deviations from both canon and Persona-DxD crossover fics. Minato's psychological troubles, conversations with the Gremory Faction, as well as the gruesome death of Raynare and co. being notable examples. And while I can't promise direct Persona summoning in every chapter, it'll be more than made up for with internal conflict, at the very least.

* * *

 _Revised 6/12/2019_


	3. Chapter 3

Of all the potential dangers that Tartarus had entertained, losing themselves had been the one that had unsettled S.E.E.S the most.

Fuuka's traumatized introduction to the Dark Hour had been their first indication to the possibility. Then, not long after, Strega, themselves having been born from a sense of hopeless and personal artificiality. All told, for as long as the incidents had endured the limelight, there had been an unspoken understanding during every exploration amidst the Dark Hour: none of them— _none_ of them—could allow each other's minds to stray from what gave them The Potential in the first place.

It was sobering, he supposed, to know just how much he'd taken that promise among them for granted.

Gingerly, he kept his eyes focused upon his lap, both hands quietly palming his Evoker around the grip. Already, Issei had been gone for half an hour, his amiable yet quirky personality temporarily out of mind. Yet for all the supernatural revelations that the boy had divulged, it had been the event's parting remarks that had proved irremovable from memory.

'… _It hurt didn't it?'_

He clicked his tongue before sighing softly.

Admittedly, he had known what was coming. Alice's reassurances were only capable of so much, and he'd already anticipated the need for proper reflection. Still, he'd masked his turmoil in the moment, steadied his thoughts, and faced the present problems as he'd always done.

But now, sitting there, quiet in his bedroom, he felt as uncertain as he'd ever been.

Fleetingly, he glanced to the side from his desk chair, navy eyes slanting toward the figure covered in blue sheets. Asia, the girl he saved, slept quietly beside him, Pixie's magic—catalyst or otherwise— having put the final touches on her restored condition. He sighed deeply. Had he known that she would've looked so peaceful in that moment, so like the girl he'd first been put to ease with a month before, he wouldn't have chanced another look. Yet as he watched her, her chest rising and falling in soft, gentle patterns, he couldn't help but think of what could've happened, what had happened, and how, when he thought about Issei's words long enough, the gun in his lap felt that much heavier in his hand.

He closed his eyes, one hand hesitating slightly before resolving to put the muzzle to his temple.

It was the makings of a bad habit, he noted duly, to seek life advice from the barrel of a gun.

"Persona."

The light shimmered.

Deliberately, he waited a moment, two, before opening his eyes, the sound of shattered glass ringing out before fading completely from his mind. He blinked measuredly. Unlike the ones that came before her, the Persona he chose hadn't clamored her way into existence. Instead, clothed in a golden dress trimmed in blue, she had slipped in quietly. Gently. And, in the same way she brushed the hair out of Asia's sleeping eyes, she cast her ethereal presence about the room like warm, inviting sunlight.

" _This girl… she's interesting, you know,"_ she hummed thoughtfully. _"It's not every day that you find someone that feels this kind in person."_

He paused, unresolved to entertain a response, before finally turning to the simplest one.

"Hello, Virtue."

He watched as the Persona shook off her reverie to face him, and as her frame arched back to stretch the whole of her white, flawless wings.

" _Hello, Minato."_ She smiled lightly _. "It's good to see you again."_

The subtle, bittersweetness of the words wasn't lost to him and he nodded, navy eyes staring straight into yellow gold. He tapped his fingers on his armrest. For all the flippancy they occasionally shared, there was a reason why Virtue was the most empathetic of his Personas, angelic or otherwise. She had been with him since the beginning in this world, second only to Thanatos in periodicity. To call any of his Persona's therapists would be a gross underselling of their abilities, yet Virtue—

He stopped, one hand reaching down to holster his Evoker.

—Virtue could listen. And that was enough.

" _Minato…"_ he heard her start, and he straightened, blinking. _"You should know, Alice told me what happened."_

The expression on her face was gentle, if not warm, and his jaw locked. Half-heartedly, he wondered at the compassionate nature of angels; at how she could look at him straight, knowing what she knew now.

"If she told you," he said finally, "then what did she say?"

She tilted her head forward and her wings rustled as she sat up straight. _"Well,"_ she drawled, and cupped her hand around her chin thoughtfully, _"I think her exact words were: Tell him he has nothing to be sorry about and that those Fallen deserved it!"_

He almost snorted. Almost. He could imagine the childish tirade, spoken though Virtue's ghost of a smile. He could appreciate the gesture.

But there was silver lining there, a hole still gnawing at his mind.

He pushed Issei's shaken face from his memory. The mask slipped back on.

"And what about you? What do you think?"

She dropped the hand she'd kept cupped around her chin. Her legs swung back and forth over his bed. _"To me,"_ she said, her voice light, _"I think you handled the situation the best you could have."_

He paused and stared at her hard. He breathed, disquieted. "Four people died, Virtue."

She met his gaze, unblinking. _"I know."_

"I could've stopped it. Called Alice off."

She nodded, eyes gentle. _"I know."_

"I could've done things differently," he continued, his voice strained. "Incapacitated them, whisked Asia away, done something!"

She watched him, traced his trembling hands with her eyes, and breathed softly.

" _I know."_

He floundered for a moment, two, before the retorts that built in his head died in his throat. He rubbed his temples. No, he realized. Virtue _knew_. Virtue knew, because vindication only went as far as intent, and angels knew morality. She knew, because _Alice_ had been the one that had kept him from treading the line of mental instability, and the problematic irony in _that_ was not so easily lost. Underlying what he'd done were sins that S.E.E.S had feared since the first, and there was no way that Virtue didn't know why.

And yet, for all of that…

"You really think I'm okay," he managed, "don't you?"

She paused, leaning back on two arms, before sighing softly. _"I'm not Michael, Minato. It's not my place to judge your character after all you've done for the universe in which we belong."_ She cocked her head forward and her eyes softened. _"But whatever you think you're guilty of, I know it's not a fair burden for you to bear."_

The warmth of her words embraced him, comforted him, and he let out a shaky breath before palming his mouth with his hand. He winced tiredly. "I… I just don't know what to do, Virtue."

She gazed back at him unwaveringly and nodded. _"Then talk to me about it."_

He held her gaze for another moment, two, before turning away to the cream-colored ceiling. He breathed sharply. "Ever since Elizabeth sent me to this world… I've been lost. I wasn't sure if I was here with a mission, or tasked to live a normal life. All I wanted was purpose." He pressed his lips bitterly. "Now, I've saved a girl's life, gotten involved with the supernatural, and all I can think is…" He shut his eyes tightly. "All I can think is that the person I was today wasn't the one Elizabeth intended to save."

Soft hands gently cupped his face, and he opened his eyes again to see Virtue looking at him with a mix of pity and compassion.

" _You've come so far,"_ she said simply, and smiled, just a little. _"You've grown so much from the boy that summoned me years ago."_ She pulled back, pushing his head up as she continued. _"But that doesn't mean you have to be infallible now."_

He looked into her eyes and felt her hands on his face, soft and steady. He bit his cheek. "It's not that simple Virtue."

He watched as she frowned lightly, and as she pulled away from his face, he continued. "There's a reason why S.E.E.S feared us losing ourselves. There's a reason why it terrified them." His brow furrowed and his hands clenched the length of his jeans. "Issei recognized it. He was afraid of me—afraid of what I'd done. Because when those four made me think of Elizabeth…" he winced and pursed his lips, "I broke."

The words echoed in the small bedroom, and Virtue rubbed her shoulders before frowning sympathetically. _"We all carry the weight of her sacrifice Minato,"_ she murmured, her voice neither firm nor light. _"It's not your place to blame yourself alone."_

"But I can't just be held unaccountable either." He bit his cheek and tensed further upon his chair. "Yes, maybe Alice reminded me who I was, and maybe I saved Asia, but before that?" He took a shaky breath. "Before that, Alice killed them. Alice _slaughtered_ them. And it wasn't her doing the egging on, it was _me._ "

He rose from his seat slowly, advancing toward his bed, and stopped just short of its foot. "I didn't want to believe when it happened. I denied it then; pushed it aside when Alice talked to me before. But the moment Issei brought it up, I just kept thinking about it." His chest tightened and his voice strained. "It was _me_ that wanted it, Virtue. It was _me_ that enjoyed watching them die."

He rounded the side of his bed, fists tensed as though he wanted to clutch something, anything, to conceal how vulnerable he really was.

"And what scares me the most is that had Issei not brought up my failings for me, I don't think I would have felt anything at all."

The heat that rose in his tone caught him by surprise and he faltered, stepping back, before slumping again in his chair and shaking his head.

"What did I almost become, Virtue?" he wondered softly more than asked. "… What does that make _me_?"

The statement cut through the air like a blade, and laid still like a weight sinking into the crushing dark of the ocean. Wearily, he averted his gaze before light footsteps sounded behind him, and the pull of thin arms wrapped him into an embrace. He blinked.

" _Do you know what it means, Minato,"_ Virtue said finally, her voice soft, _"to say I am Thou, Thou Art I?"_

She pushed back and met his eyes, firm hands still gripping his shoulders. _"It's not a needless formality, nor is it melodrama in its most cryptic form."_ She sighed deeply. _"It means, that in the moments between mind and matter, our souls, for a brief second, connect."_

She pursed her lips and gently stroked his hair. _"You are us, Minato. You take in our character, our drive, our point of view. From Thanatos, you took apathy. From Alice, you lost inhibition. And from a lesser angel like me, you gain empathy instead of austerity."_ She eyed him carefully. _"When we're driven to your mind, you take the best of us and the worst of us."_

" _But,"_ she said gently, and reached out to place her hand over his. _"I am also you. I know your thoughts, your emotions, your heart. They shape my form and give me a more human-like perspective."_ She focused and let her golden aura wash over him like a blanket. _"Alice knew you too when she answered your call. She tuned into your rage, your sorrow, but kept your heart in mind. Your emotions paralleled her own nature, but she never forgot to remind you of yours."_

She wrapped her fingers around his and traced her eyes over his hip, over his Evoker. _"You're right. You may have moments of weakness. And if your emotions get the best of you, some in the Sea of Souls may feed off of them."_ Her throat caught, and for a moment, a ghost of a grimace flickered before she faced him with a smile. _"But you're still you, Minato. We're still you. Don't you ever,_ _ **ever**_ _forget that."_

For a moment he sat there, feeling her warmth, the steadiness of her hand, and breathed in deeply. Then, he broke from her grip, pulling away, and caught her gaze with his own.

"I'm just so tired, Virtue," he managed finally.

" _I know,"_ she answered quietly.

"When I became The Seal, I left so many people behind. Mitsuru, Aegis, Junpei, Yukari. But despite my sacrifice, they still had each other." His throat felt hoarse and he clenched his jeans with his hand. "Here, Elizabeth may have given me a world where the supernatural walk the earth. But when she took my place, she left _me_ , Virtue. She—"

His eyes turned vulnerable, lost. "… She left me alone."

The words were hollower than he thought they would be, and he nearly turned away before the soft rustling of wings sounded next to his bed.

" _I wouldn't be so sure."_

His look changed to one of mystified bemusement, and he watched, brow furrowed, as Virtue smiled knowingly. "What do you—"

His eyes widened as a tapered, angelic hand reached out to touch Asia's forehead. _"There's someone still waiting for you, Minato,"_ she smiled, and her finger glowed gold.

" _I think it's about time that you go and talk to her for yourself."_

* * *

By the time Asia had begun to stir, Virtue's presence had already slipped away, cascading from his mind like a light current in a stream. He felt himself freeze for a moment, watching the last visages of gold tremble in the air, before he pinched the bridge of his nose. There was a reason why he respected Virtue; why he cherished how she took his well-being and valued it like her own.

But it was nonetheless inconvenient when the pace of angels was so different from his—

"Wha… What happened?"

He recomposed, straightening in his chair, as Asia pushed herself into a sitting position and clutched her forehead.

"W… Where am I?"

He gave himself a beat and thought of golden auras and calming reassurance. He cleared his throat unevenly. "You've been resting in my room for a few hours now."

The sound of his voice was something she evidently didn't expect, and she froze before dropping the hand on her face. She turned to him, eyes wide.

"You…"

Her emerald gaze met his, and for a moment, he clutched his armrest a little tighter. He could see her now, not quite as he remembered her, all vibrant and unapologetic. Her charm was dimmed, her eyes undercut by the faintest ripple of anxiety. She wasn't all afraid, and it wasn't quite suspicion that he was appraised with either.

But he knew that look.

He knew loss well.

"Minato," he finished for her. "My name… is Minato."

"Minato," she breathed, and as she tested the sound of each syllable, he watched the dark in her eyes lessen just a little.

He nodded, and felt his grip slacken from the oak of his chair. He leaned forward. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

"I…" she managed, and her eyes drifted up toward the cream-colored ceiling. She winced. "I remember enough."

A frown played at the edge of his lips and his brow furrowed. "Do you remember what those four wanted from you?"

She bit her lip. "It… it's complicated."

He pursed his lips. "Asia." His voice was calm, but not cold, and she stopped. Unconsciously, her hands had begun shaking. "It's okay. You're safe now."

He watched as she swallowed and put a hand over her left wrist to steady herself. She took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm sorry, it's just…" her voice trailed off to a whisper. "I'm not the person you think I am."

He looked at her hard and leaned in closer. He recalled something Raynare said—how Asia was neither an angel nor a saint. At the time it had seemed like bravado, but seeing her now, eyes downcast and hands on her knees, there may have been a measure of truth in those words.

He shook his head. Still, it didn't matter.

"I can tell that you're kind," he said, and thought of Virtue's first impression of her. "Even alone, that's enough."

She met his gaze with surprise and blinked once, twice, before smiling. "Thank you," she whispered, and meant it. She laughed softly. "You know, it's funny. You're asking me to talk now, but I think the first time I met you, I was the one who told _you_ not to face your problems alone."

He blinked. He had almost forgotten, but if he focused, the details of their first conversation played so vividly in his mind. She continued. "To answer your question though… Raynare and the rest did want something from me." She pressed her lips thinly. "I have… power. The power to heal anyone and anything."

"A Sacred Gear," he guessed, and the surprise in her eyes confirmed his suspicions. He palmed his cheek with his hand. _Not_ a Nihil Weapon then—he had Issei to thank for that distinguishability. But if Pixie was to be believed…

"Yes. A Sacred Gear," she repeated, and the sound of her words tore him from his reverie. She nodded appeasably. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how much you knew about the supernatural."

Not enough, if he was honest, but to address the technicality would be to open up conversations more complicated than necessary. He dropped his hand and let his silence act as affirmation. A thought occurred to him, moments later.

"May I see it?"

Asia flinched and inched closer to the bedframe. "I'm sorry?"

He winced. "I'm sorry," he corrected, "I didn't mean to overstep."

"No… it's fine." Slowly, she leaned closer to his chair. "I just didn't expect you to ask."

The nod he gave was conciliatory, and he waited another beat before leaning toward Asia's outstretched hand. There was nothing different about her pale, tapered fingers save for two silver rings, each fastened with a blue-green gem. But as they glowed a faint green, he felt an aura of comfort not unlike Pixie and Virtue's own. His eyes widened. No, Sacred Gears were not Nihil Weapons. None came to mind that were less armaments than accessories. But seeing it manifested now, he understood the reason behind Pixie's confusion.

There was a soul sealed inside, faint but beating. A dormant spark of life that catalyzed power. His mind raced. There was a trace of the Velvet Room's presence—its form unfamiliar, but the nature of its power present nonetheless. It meant there was a sign. A flicker of hope, no matter how small, that there was a connection between this universe and his own. He should have felt relieved. Thankful even, for the possibility. Yet as he continued staring at the silver rings, their gems glowing beautifully in the soft-lit bedroom, he realized one thing.

His eyes narrowed. "What did they try do to with you?"

His voice was cold, and as the green glow faded and Asia's hand pulled back, he straightened. She bit her lip.

"A little under a month ago… Raynare took me under her wing." Her throat caught, and she looked at him reservedly before breathing hard through her nose. "She was a Fallen. I figure you guessed as much when you saw her." Her voice grew wistful. "Looking back, I should've known. She and her friends were too smiley, too inviting." She looked away. "But I haven't had the most accepting life. And even though I knew who they were… I wanted to believe that us outcasts could have been happy together."

His jaw tightened. An outcast, she'd called herself. "What happened next?"

"They… they took care of me for a while." Her voice trailed off and she pressed her lips. "I never told you, but that church we first met in was my home when I came to Japan. I… I didn't have anywhere else to stay."

He froze. He remembered how headstrong she had been then, how proudly she'd talked of her renovations to the church. His fist clenched like a spring and she continued quietly.

"They moved in a while later. Gave me everything I needed. For a while, I think I almost thought we were one big family." She shook her head. "But after a while, they kept asking me about my Sacred Gear. What it did. How it worked." She breathed quietly. "I told myself they were just curious. But they persisted, and day after day they just seemed to grow angrier. More monstrous. One day… they even tried to hurt one of my friends." She swallowed hard. "I tried to stop them. I tried to throw myself in front of him. But when they dragged me back to the church that day..."

"They tried to take it from you," he finished, and her meek nod in response spoke more than words ever could.

"They had a machine," she whispered. "Raynare was angry and wanted to extract it. To take it for herself."

He stiffened. For as long as he could remember, the Velvet Room had never dared to extract a soul. A Nihil Weapon a Sacred Gear may not have been, but if a device to reverse-engineer their existence had existed, there would doubtlessly be consequences. If not to the gear, then to the soul. And if not to the soul…

Then to the user.

He held himself for a beat, two. Nearly, he wondered if Raynare and the others deserved all that he'd wrought before he steadied his thoughts and unclenched his fist. No. There was a reason he'd talked with Virtue.

He exhaled deeply. "… That's when I came in, isn't it?"

She turned, met his gaze for a long moment, and nodded. "You arrived before they could start."

The words blanketed the room, sprinkled it with silence, and they sat, watching each other. Then, after a second more, Asia straightened and leaned closer to his eyes.

"What… happened after that, Minato?" she asked finally, her voice searching. "The last thing I remember was you putting a gun to your head." Her voice steadied and her browed furrowed in concentration. "How did either of us escape?"

She breathed, and her voice grew quiet. "What happened to them?"

He hesitated, one hand dropping before grazing the concealed side of his Evoker. He took a breath. Already, it would be dangerous to show his hand, not without complete information about the world in which he now lived. But more than that, there was an ugly truth behind the fates of those Fallen. A truth that required a confession that he was reluctant to lay bare.

But she had told him so much. Trusted him, despite being betrayed by those she'd almost called family.

' _Sometimes,'_ he remembered her telling him, the first day they met, _'the best thing you can do is face your problems while not alone.'_

He looked again into her emerald eyes.

"I…"

His words trailed off, and suddenly, the sound of three firm knocks swelled in the room. Briefly, his eyes met Asia's before they continued, louder this time.

He stood up. After a moment, Asia warily followed suit. He nodded at her once and slowly pressed his lips.

Someone was at the door.

* * *

For a lack of a better word to describe it, Rias Gremory was confused.

She should have been in a foul mood. Cross, even. From the moment the Fallen Angels captured Asia and returned her to their hideout, the newest member of her Peerage had been restless. She had been sympathetic to Issei's plight from the first, the courageous sense of loyalty he had to his friends having earned her respect and pride. To the priestess even, she had some measure of condolence. But regardless of her own feelings, there were some ventures she could not condone. Raynare's group of Fallen was dangerous, the potential political backlash between the Factions even more so. It was with regret that she had told him as much, but when he left the clubroom that afternoon, she had assumed it would have been the end of it.

Hours later, Akeno had been quick to explain to her that it had been, in fact, not.

Somehow, three of her peerage had gone missing. She had nearly slumped her head against her desk when she'd heard it. Then truly did, once or twice, once she'd finally realized why. Recklessly charging in alone, admittedly, she had told Issei to avoid. But while enlisting the help of Kiba and Koneko had solved _one_ problem, it had _not_ begot what she'd intended either. Her preparations had been swift, and in minutes she'd had every intention of storming the church with her queen in tow.

But then two of her peerage had returned, just before they were to set off, and again, she'd found herself forced to reassess the situation at hand.

By her knight and rook's account, the nest of Fallen had already been reduced. A new player had entered the game—a powerful high class devil, by Kiba's measure—and if his description was right, an apparently unknown one as well. What words of admonishment she'd planned became questions upon questions. But there was frustratingly little to be learned about the new face in Gremory-Sitri territory. What was known was that he'd saved and taken Asia. More concerningly, he'd brought Issei along as well. It was only Kiba's placating hand that kept her from pursuit, but Koneko's gruesome depiction of the leveled church suggested a less than comforting narrative.

It was by this time, when Issei frantically returned to a club room full of brooding faces, that Rias officially decided she had her fill of surprises.

Their mystery man—this Minato—was no devil, but allegedly, a human. Konkeo's disbelief had been adamant, and while the fault was not Issei's, her rook's supernatural senses lent to her credibility. But her pawn had held fast, and though his recklessness had earned him no small reprimand, there was something to be said about how only he interacted with the man. An impasse then, at least by level-headed standards. A scenario indicative of the need to wait and observe. But whether it was the incessant bickering before her or the unrelenting rollercoaster she'd had as a day, the confusion simply grew too much to bear.

She decided. Direct conference would be their final resolution.

Guided by Issei's directions, they made the trip in record time. The apartment itself was unassuming, the cerulean complex being minimalist compared to the ones she'd passed at Kuoh. But Issei confirmed the location. They arrived at the ground floor, right before an oaken door with the number **3** over its head. Her peerage watched with varying expressions of wariness and anticipation.

She rapped three times. Then another. Finally, on the third cycle, someone answered the door.

To say he defied expectation was to imply she had appropriate expectation at all, and while her peerage had given her an idea, she'd already suspected that it would fail to do him justice. Minato's posture was slackened, almost lazily so, and his mop of blue hair flopped to one side unrulily. There was an alertness to him though, an aura of wariness that prevailed despite the image he gave out. He faced the five of them directly, taking up the entirety of the doorframe, and if she had to guess, he was likely cautious, but not perturbed.

A short introduction then, to clear the air. Names first, then apologies for intruding. She watched as he looked at each of them, eyes cool, but not cold, as she went down her peerage. On occasion, he'd look at her red hair, expression inscrutable. She wondered at that, briefly. The manner of her own hair was uncommon, yet his was no less unusual. But as she reintroduced her pawn, all smiles yet waving timidly, there was only time to watch him pause and stare hard, before he stepped back and widened the door.

The interior of the apartment was not that different from its exterior, though the inside was slightly less utilitarian. There was a living space, furnished with couches barely used, and baby blue curtains lined the cream walls. A kitchen lay in the far right corner, and the fading aroma of green tea hung loosely in the air. There was something off, though. Something preternatural. She couldn't quite place it, and the trace was impossibly faint, but the energy in some corners of the room seemed oddly… celestial.

She let him lead them through the apartment for another moment, before tilting her head toward Koneko. Her voice lowered. _"What do you think of him now?"_

The former Nekomata frowned, and her brow furrowed. _"It's… odd,"_ she murmured, and made sure his back was turned. _"Now… he smells human."_

She nodded. She could empathize with her rook's confusion. There was almost something other-worldly about the man before them; something abnormal. Already, as her gaze shifted, she could see the varying degrees of response. Behind her, Akeno's eyebrow had raised in an expression of intrigue; Kiba's forehead had wrinkled¸ his eyes lost in thought; and Issei had looked triumphant, his lips mouthing something that looked akin to _'I told you so.'_

She raised a hand, conceding. Admittedly, it had never sat well with her, discouraging Issei's claims; his insistence that he'd known what he'd heard. It had hurt her, seeing him look so crestfallen. But now that he had been proven right, now that her biggest question had been clarified, there were plans to which she needed to make appropriate adjustments.

She had just been about to voice her new thoughts, when a voice called to the left of her head.

"Issei?" the whisper sounded, "Is that you?"

"Asia?"

The tone of Issei's voice was exuberant, and she turned, zeroing in on the source of her pawn's attention. There, behind an enclave, was a girl she'd nearly missed. Her green eyes were tired and her blonde hair was messy, but circumstances considered, Asia appeared no worse for wear. She felt heartened seeing her there, safe, as Issei had hoped. Her pawn broke from their group, relief in his eyes, and advanced straight upon the priestess.

"You're okay!" he breathed, arms spread wide. "Thank goodness. I was so worried."

Asia smiled at him, the beginnings of tears in her eyes, and only hesitated once before wrapping her pawn into a hug. Issei had not known what to do at that, and turned crimson before grinning from ear to ear. She withheld a laugh. It was always amusing, seeing her pawn impassioned in situations like these. But out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something off.

Something about _his_ reaction.

"You're the best Minato," Issei continued, and she watched intently as her pawn turned to face him. "Thank you so much for helping her when I couldn't."

The nod that followed was curt yet courteous, but a side eye from Akeno verified that she wasn't the only one who suspected tension behind the scenes. Minato had flinched, slightly, but visibly. What was more, Asia's face had scrunched up, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Help?" Asia asked, her voice uncertain. "You mean… you two know each other?"

She did not miss the awkwardness that threatened to take the room, already budding from her peerage in the form of side eyes and shuffling feet. Her lips twitched. It was a small amusement that the very girl he'd saved was just as unsure about him as the rest of them. But enough banter had gone down already. She still had a purpose here. Now, a clear one.

She cleared her throat politely.

He turned to her, then to Asia, and pursed his lips into a thin line.

"Later," he acquiesced.

The was a reluctance in Asia's eyes, tempered only just, but after raising a placating hand, he turned away and came to her. She nodded. The seven of them arranged themselves around the coffee table, moments later. Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko took the couch; herself and Issei taking positions in chairs to their left. Only Minato and Asia remained, and after a beat of hesitation, she watched them settle for the sofa across from her.

She crossed her legs and rested her hands in her lap. She smiled evenly.

"I'd like to start by thanking you again for your help today at the church." Her voice was polite, but her affability remained. "Asia is a good friend of Issei's, and the action you took against those Fallen was appreciated, to say the least."

The look of confused concern that Asia threw his way was one that she didn't miss. But it was _his_ reaction in which she was most interested. A flicker of pain passed his face, so quick, that Rias wasn't even sure she'd seen it. But eventually, he put a hand on Asia's knee, and faced her quietly.

He nodded.

"Perfect," she said, and smiled. "Now, with that said, allow me to get straight to the point."

She stood up. Upon that gesture, the rest of her peerage took to their feet as well.

"We," she began, and five sets of black wings sprung out between each of them, "are devils."

* * *

In the end, what had surprised Rias the most was how smoothly their ensuing conversation had gone.

She had expected something a measure worse, at first. A wary eye begot a sharp mind, and she had been keen to notice the bouts of tension that flared in the room for moments at a time.

When she had shown them their wings, manifesting from their backs like bat-like specters, she had watched Asia shift uncomfortably, gauging his reaction, unsure of a spectacle she'd only recently acclimated to herself. When she had abridged their history, iterating the interplay of devil culture and its place in the supernatural world, she had taken notice to the frown that had ghosted across his lips. Even when she had talked of peerages, of all the Evil Pieces and Rating Games that came with them, she had attended to how he'd twitched, ever so slightly. How he'd narrowed his eyes, even as Issei had talked of his own resurrection as a Devil.

But as quickly as those flickers of challenge had come, they'd gone. There had been no impassioned outcry, no vocal remonstration. Between her peerage and the two of them, their conference had proceeded without incident.

Everything… had gone fine.

She locked her jaw thoughtfully, watching him watch her as she finished her account. A small part of her wondered, as five pairs of eyes awaited his response, how long she could count on the calm in the room to last.

"I see," he said after what amounted to several seconds of silence.

She cocked her head forward before leaning back in her seat. She collected her thoughts.

"I understand that we've gone over a lot in a fairly short time." Her tone was business-like, but nonetheless kind. "If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask."

"It's fine," he asserted. "I believe I understand."

The surety in his voice was neither shaky nor fabricated, and she eyed him again, one eyebrow raising imperceptibly. Her queen voiced her thoughts for her, seconds later.

"You're quite the intriguing person, Minato." Akeno sounded from the couch, her legs relaxed upon the coffee table's end. She smiled slyly in Issei's direction. "Most humans in your position wouldn't take things half as well."

She would have been amused by Issei's indignant spluttering had there not been a different reaction she had been attending to.

"You provided me with proof," he repeated simply. "I have no reason to deny you."

She frowned. There was a bluntness to his words, spoken as though they were the most obvious thing in the world, and admittedly, he'd had a point. Before them, he had seen the Fallen. Even assuming an otherwise supernatural cluelessness, he'd already had a taste of the world in which they lived.

But as she recalled the discomforted reactions that had flickered upon his face, she had an itching feeling that there was something else to his words. Something big.

She sighed. It was times like these that she wished she had her brother's knack for reading people.

"Very well then," she said, and nodded primly. Her eyes shifted to her left, to the girl who had been quietly listening all this time. "And what about you, Asia?"

Her emerald eyes blinked. "Me?" she stammered.

She smiled, her expression light. "I realize this may not all be new to you, but you still deserve a say." Her fingers folded against her knee and she continued. "Do you have any questions or concerns?"

The words gave Asia pause, and her eyes flickered before she sighed weakly.

"No, not questions," she managed, her bright eyes now murky. "But all of this… is just a lot."

She clutched the length of her skirt and bit the inside of her cheek. "All my life, the Church has never looked kindly upon devils. They've always preached against their ways; their methods; their identity." Her lip jutted out slightly, and she leveled a timid gaze at the five of them. "But despite everything they've told me, I can't bring myself to accept that any of you are _bad_ people."

The words produced more than a few smiles, and she felt the faintest surge of pride as she took in her peerage's reaction. She nodded warmly.

"Thank you, Asia."

The priestess smiled faintly in return, and Rias gave herself another beat before shifting her gaze. There was something to be said about the calmness of the moment; the even peace that settled between her peerage and the rest. But as comforting as the silence was, there was still a reason, she reminded herself, why she'd gone through the trouble of extending the olive branch of information in the first place.

She propped her elbows on her knees and met Minato's waiting stare.

She took a short breath.

"Now then," she said measuredly. "We've told you who we are. If you don't mind, we'd like to ask you a few questions." She leaned in lightly, but no less probingly. She examined him carefully. "What kind of power did you use today at the church?"

She did not miss the way his eyes flickered instinctively, no doubt reviewing the events as they played out in his mind. His voice hesitated, albeit slightly.

"It's complicated."

She raised a lone eyebrow before masking her bemusement with appraisal. Troublesome as it was, receiving an ambiguous response wasn't beyond her expectations. She exchanged significant looks with Kiba and Koneko. Perhaps a different tact then.

"It's properties," she started again, "are they based in curse magic?"

His jaw tightened. His response came swifter than before, but its meaning was no less cryptic.

"Today, yes."

She frowned. Why the measure of time was used as a qualifier escaped her, but the awkwardness of the admission told her enough. Magic was involved then. Powerful enough to confuse even Koneko's senses. That eliminated most conventional celestial weapons. As for his other meaning, she could only assume that his abilities had a variety of applications.

"A sacred gear, then," she guessed.

She watched as he shot her an inscrutable look, and as his fingers rolled against his armrest.

"No." he asserted, only to draw back to lessen the severity of his tone. "Not a sacred gear."

She looked at him—really looked at him—even as her peerage shifted interestedly in their seats, even as Asia stared up at him mystified. She narrowed her eyes. He was hiding something. There was something in his look; something in the way he spoke. Without a sacred gear, there were a dwindling number of possibilities left to consider. Almost all required training, and barring that, abilities with which only her brother would be familiar. Reasonably, the far more likely possibility was that he was mistaken; unsure of the concept of sacred gears to the point of disassociation.

But if he was telling the truth; if he did possess abilities as effective as that…

"Minato," she said, enunciating each word with careful emphasis, "how did you defeat the Fallen Angels?"

He stopped. For a moment, she could have sworn that his hand twitched toward his hip before ultimately pulling away.

"Not alone," he settled on finally.

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms loosely. She withheld a frown. There was truth in those words, but he was omitting something, leaving it out on purpose. Perhaps summoning magic was the most obvious answer she could derive from his meaning, but by the way he framed it, she doubted the reality was quite as simple.

She took a soft breath before staring at him intently.

"Then let me put this another way," she began slowly, uncrossing her arms to fold them just underneath her chin. "Whatever you did today was an impressive display of power."

"Depending on who you ask," Akeno interjected sultrily, "it was _more_ than impressive."

Rias shot her a glance and ignored her. She cocked her head seriously. "I know you may not have meant it to be Minato, but when the right people walk by that church, they'll know."

He looked at her with attention now, and she pressed her lips before choosing her next words carefully.

"For my part, I'm grateful to you. Issei, is grateful to you. But we all know power when we see it." She paused, and a round of acknowledging nods from the room gave her the confirmation to press. "You, Minato, have left an impression. And the reason I say all of this and ask you these questions is because today," she took a breath and continued evenly, "today I was hoping to offer you peerage."

The words left her lips without the rolling anticipation she'd expected, and as she maintained her impassivity, Asia's wide-eyed reaction plunged the room into silence. She wet her lips. She supposed she should have felt a deal more keen. From the moment Issei had mentioned the possibility of his humanity, she had entertained this idea to her peerage, letting it stew along with the questions in her mind. Despite the limited success she'd had at drawing information, this moment—this proposal—had been the plan.

But as Minato closed his eyes and let the drumming of his fingers slow to a stop, the silence around her pressed down like a weight she felt unprepared to bear.

Finally, he sighed.

"I'm sorry. But I have to decline."

She let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding, and as he looked at her, sapphire eyes cool, she saw unrest, disquiet, and weariness that ran contrary to the poise with which he'd originally appeared.

"I know that it's not wanted to hear," he said after a pregnant pause. "You've been transparent with me, and I appreciate your patience thus far. However," he wrung his hands as he eyed each of her peerage, one by one, "I won't pledge myself to a group that I've only just met. And I won't—I _can't—_ let myself lose my humanity."

"But it's not like that at all!" Issei exclaimed, defending her from his chair to her left. "Even though I'm a devil, I don't feel any less human."

"But you didn't have a choice," Minato returned, his voice tired. "You were resurrected, not asked." He breathed in deeply before tightening his jaw. "Can you truly say that you would say the same had someone else not chosen for you?"

"I…"

"Enough, Issei."

She raised a hand to her pawn, stopping him, even as he bent his knees to stand fully out of his chair. She massaged her temples before preparing to speak.

"I understand," she said, her tone apologetic. "I'm sorry we couldn't come to a better arrangement."

She pulled back from her arched position in her chair before looking at him with a gaze close to sympathy. She sighed. Admittedly, his response hadn't been entirely unexpected. But seeing his eyes, hearing the way he spoke, _that_ had given her pause. He had looked drained by her request: not unnerved, but not himself all the same. Under normal circumstances, she would have been more inclined to press, but seeing him there now, she felt reluctant to try.

She tapped her fingers on her armrest and clicked her tongue.

That being said…

"There is one more thing, though," she added, and as Minato stopped and looked at her warily, she let her gaze shift to her left. She let out a breath. "Asia… I would like to offer you the same invitation."

She did not miss the way Minato stiffened, nor the way the priestess reared back in surprise.

"I'm sorry?"

Asia blinked rapidly, and Rias waited until the girl processed her words to speak.

"I've been informed about your situation," she began carefully. "You're unaffiliated. You don't have any places left to stay." She caught Issei out of the corner of her eye and continued, her voice kind. "It may not be the second chance you hoped for, but I would like to give you a chance to join my peerage."

The shocked look on Asia's face only grew larger, and to her left, her pawn cleared his throat behind his hand.

"It was my idea, originally," Issei confessed, and scratched the back of his neck. "I'm sorry. I know it's a little sudden. But with this, we can be together." He leaned forward, his tone optimistic and assured. "You don't have to be alone anymore."

"Issei…" Asia breathed softly. She wet her lips. "I… I…"

"Don't you think that this is a little much to put on someone who's only recovered recently?"

The edge in Minato's tone ground her peerage to a halt, and Asia blinked, staring up at him, numb. For her own part, she eyed the grimness of his face, half-startled, half-guarded. Nearly, she missed the way her knight's lips set, moments later.

"Sometimes," Kiba murmured from the couch to his left, "we can't sidestep decisions just because the circumstances are less than forgiving."

The evenness in Kiba's tone held steady, and Minato flinched, evidently unexpecting. A beat later, she reigned in her own thoughts and expression before nodding to her knight and pressing her lips.

"Kiba's right," she sounded, responding to the priestess' conflicted expression. "Times like these are tough, and without a group to support you in the future, your safety can't be guaranteed."

The look Minato shot her in warning made her hesitate, but she carried on, her voice tinged with regret.

"I'm sorry. I know this isn't easy. But this may very well be your best choice."

She folded her hands in her lap, even as Minato eyed her sternly, even as, unbeknownst to her, he clenched his fist, ever so slightly. Her peerage leaned forward in their seats, voicing their support.

"It's worth considering," Akeno sounded, her cheek resting on her hand.

"President is nice," Koneko voiced plainly by her queen's side.

"It'll be great Asia," Issei said, stretching his arms out warmly. "Trust me."

"I don't…" Asia faltered, her wide eyes flickering to every member of the room.

"I just…"

 _ **That's enough pushing her around, don't you think?**_

Every ear, every face, every expression twisted as the sudden voice before them grated the air with a vehement, fairy-like cadence. She widened her eyes.

Materialized before her was a figure wrapped in shadow, pulsating with pressure that left her wincing at its waves. Its form wasn't corporeal, and its stance, not quite tangible, but she could make out a blue dress, bleached blonde locks, and piercing scarlet eyes.

And all of it stood darkly behind a now unreadable boy.

"That…" she heard her knight stammer weakly, "that…."

"That's it," Koneko whispered, finishing his thoughts for him. "That's the presence we felt before."

She swallowed hard. So _this_ was what he'd been hiding. Already, her peerage had risen to their feet, figures tense but prepared for battle. Akeno licked her lips, palming a wayward spark between her fingers. Konkeo clenched her fists, bending her knees in a ready position. Kiba and Issei drew their sacred gears, revealing their sword and gauntlet respectively. And all the while, the figure in front of them mouthed two words before offering a big, psychotic smile.

She froze, her Power of Destruction dying in her fingertips.

And then, just like that, the pressure in the room vanished.

She blinked. As did the rest of the room. Her peerage remained on their toes, uneasy, while Asia stared to her right, her expression more stupefied than fearful. Without a trace, the figure had vanished. The tendrils of darkness that had threatened the chairs in the room had disappeared. The walls, which she could have sworn had buckled at their corners, remained no worse for wear. No matter where she looked, no matter where she turned, nothing in the room seemed out of place.

Somehow… everything was normal.

She spared herself a moment to breathe before turning her eyes sharply toward Minato.

He stared back, stared at them all, and just before his gaze averted, stopped, recomposed, and breathed out tiredly.

"I'm sorry," he managed, and his voice felt disquieted. "But right now, Asia deserves the time and space to think."

The simplicity of his explanation was staggering in itself, and she watched as Asia blinked, wide-eyed. She turned to her peerage carefully, entertaining a myriad of looks that, while remorseful, were wholly incredulous and unsatisfied. She sighed. Of course, they wanted an explanation. She didn't blame them. In any other circumstance, in any other event, she would have fired question after question. That figure was everything, representing the very information that she'd pried for all this time. It's presence was unreal, it's power, obvious, and it only served to make Minato more of an unknown than he already was.

But as she wet her lips and stared into his sapphire-blue eyes, she reminded herself of the weight of what she'd seen.

Her peerage hadn't caught it. Too focused on the darkness at their feet and the confrontation that had seemed all but ready to come to a head, they'd missed the movement of the figure's lips. But she hadn't. She had watched it smile, almost playfully. And she'd watched it mouth two words that, even now, sent shivers down her spine.

 _You'll lose._

"You're right," she said finally, and as her peerage looked at her stupefied, she let the chills down her back speak her words for her. "It was our mistake. I think it would be best if we took our leave."

* * *

The door clicked closed, taking the last of his guests' presence with it, and as the events of the past hour replayed inexorably in his mind, he let out a sigh, feeling empty.

In truth, some part of him had always known that a confrontation had been inevitable. While months without S.E.E.S had dulled his foresight and mental acumen, he had never been so disquieted to have ignored the aftermath of Alice's methods. The church's destruction had been blatant and discernable; he himself had abruptly taken Issei from his companions. When the five of them had arrived before the open door of his apartment, courtesy, he'd imagined, of Issei's locational familiarity, he had accepted them in, pushing his conversation with Asia aside, because he had deserved to be held accountable for whatever consequences had arisen from his actions.

It had been a small comfort, seeing some that he'd recognized. Issei, with his sheepish eyes and timid wave. The blonde boy and white-haired girl, with respective traces of stiff politeness and muted trepidation. The others, however, he had not. An ebony-haired woman with a suffocating, perhaps even sultry, confidence. And a redhead of Mitsuru's likeness with stern compassion to match. By the time Asia had joined them, eyes wide and questioning how he too had known the five, the woman in red, Issei's 'President,' had beckoned for them to sit. Already, she had introduced herself and them all: Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Kiba, and Issei. But only then had she revealed the truth of her nature.

They, the five of them, were devils.

It had not been an altogether unfathomable concept. Perhaps, had he not experienced the strangeness of the Dark Hour and climbed the crude amalgamation that was the Tower, he would have thought that their confessions had been jests. But he had seen the Fallen, and from their first encounter, Issei had let slip the possibility of his true nature. When they'd shown him their wings, explaining the rich history and magic behind their kind, he had accepted it, because no matter how many questions he asked or no matter how many times he denied it, the truth before him would always be unbending.

And that had been the crux of the problem.

He had sensed no evil among them. No measure of ill-will. Those affiliated with the Hells, as he had known them, were malignant forces of nature, yet the five that represented their race had been unequivocally not. That had not been to say that they were faultless. The way Issei had championed his resurrection as a devil had disturbed him, and he had had no illusions about their ulterior motives amidst their conversation. But the fundamental difference had remained.

It had troubled him more than he liked to admit. Had the discrepancies been a product of the universal-switch, had the myths that had brought his Personas to life never existed at all, the turmoil in his mind, in his Sea of Souls, would have bubbled, but been kept at bay. It had not. The archdemons in his mind had had their counterparts; the lords of Hell had representatives, in the flesh. It had not been dimensional travel that had robbed his Personas of their limelight, but the strands of time that had left them lost to even history.

Had the demonic cries of outrage not rang uproariously in his mind, he would have laughed hollowly at the poetry of it all.

Like him, even his _Personas_ had been left forgotten. Alone.

Rias had not spared him from conversing, however. As he'd imagined, her account had not been without a price. Still, he could give credit where credit was due. For all their devilish bravado, they had been transparent with him from the start, treating him not unkindly, despite the image they had given out. A small part of him had truly wanted to reciprocate in turn. But he had hesitated. To their interrogations, he had responded in abstractions and vague truths. To their request for peerage, he had replied with firm, yet weary denials. There had been reasons, by all means. Despite their charm, they had still been strangers, non-human ones with agendas of their own. Despite their differences from the demons he knew, he had valued his humanity more than any of them could ever know.

But as he had watched their cheeky banter, their friendly comradery, and Rias' red hair, what had truly struck him had been that looking at them had been like looking at S.E.E.S.

And no matter how much he had tried to convince himself otherwise, he wasn't sure if he'd ever be ready to go through with what he'd gone through with them again.

Still, despite the conflict in his mind, he had thought himself poised by the time he'd delivered his final rejection. For all of Issei's interjections and Rias' gentle persuasions, he had been prepared to continue their conversation for several minutes more. He had almost expected it, really. Further prying, further bargaining meant to sway him to their side.

It had been why he'd been so caught off guard when Rias had turned her eyes from him and changed her target altogether.

Looking back, he should have known what had been coming. Asia's relationship with Issei had been established priorly, and it had only made sense that they would have offered her a position by his side. Still, it had bothered him. Putting aside their blatant disregard for her former affiliation with the church, and barring even their callousness toward the spontaneity of their proposal, it had been the framing of their words that had truly drawn his ire.

He had known what it had been like to have been granted a fate chosen by another. Despite sacrificing his life for the lives of many, Elizabeth had taken matters into her own hands. Every day, he wished that he'd been given the right to choose that day for himself. But for all his regrets, he had never wished the same fate upon someone else.

When Rias had bottlenecked her, locking her into a choice that hadn't felt like a choice at all, he had seen himself in Asia's eyes. He had seen that same anxious expression, rising in his own face, when Elizabeth had first pulled him unceremoniously from the Seal.

It had been like a river, rushing into his mind, as the floodgates of his fervor had opened.

And then…

He swallowed, drawing himself from his reverie, before leaning back against the door of his apartment and raising his eyes to the ceiling above.

… And then, with all the vehemence that he'd kept locked within his thoughts, Alice had been called to the forefront of his mind.

Slowly, he pulled himself away from the door, craning his neck to face the girl still sitting quietly in his living room chair. In the few minutes following Rias' peerage's departure, Asia had flickered from expressions of confusion, apprehension, and contemplation. He could understand why. While he had clamped down before Alice had monopolized the worst of his antagonism, the aura and power she'd emitted could not be undone. It was fitting, in a way, he supposed mirthlessly. For all the trepidation Asia had had about her own identity, it had always been him who had not been all that he'd seemed.

He took a small step forward before breaking the silence fully with a proper advance. Asia met his eyes as he rounded his living room and took a seat, just left and across from her.

She swallowed, wringing her hands for a moment, before gathering the courage to speak.

"Minato," she started clumsily. "You should know, I—"

"Asia," he interrupted, raising his hand, "I'm sorry." She stopped, shoulders relaxing as she closed her mouth mid-stammer. "All I wanted was to give you the time to decide things for yourself."

His words settled quietly into the room, tempering the intensity she'd no doubt expected with a soft, rueful murmur. She traced his face with her eyes carefully.

"Why?" she wondered more than asked. "Why would you go so far, just for me?"

He set his lips and only hesitated once before staring at her evenly.

"Because," he said after several seconds of silence, "no one did the same for me."

She stopped, maintaining eye-contact for a moment more, before faltering and averting her gaze. He didn't blame her. It had been a weighty confession. Vague, but somber enough to have kept her lost in its implication. As he settled into the cloth of his chair, he had expected the silence to carry on for at least a few seconds more.

What he hadn't expected was for her to raise her head, and for her eyes, once colored timidly, to have been replaced with a soft, gentle hue.

"What happened to everyone at the church today, Minato?" she asked lightly, probingly.

He paused, watching the way she watched him, before closing his eyes and weighing his thoughts. There were so many ways that he could answer that question. To Rias, he would have replied with generalities. To Issei, he would have gestured and explained in terms of simplicities. But as he opened his eyes and met the waiting hue of emerald-green, he thought back to their interrupted conversation, and how she, more than all the others, deserved the right to an explanation.

"I killed them," he said finally.

She drew back, just as he'd thought she would. Her shoulders tightened, and her lips grew wet. But for all the tension she showed, it had been something akin to sympathy, not fear, with which her eyes grew laced.

"And Issei?" she asked quietly.

He pursed his lips. "I met him, Konkeo, and Kiba just minutes after I was done."

The words had an air of finality to them, and as the silence took them both, Asia bit her lip and stared. For the first time since the beginning of their conversation, he struggled to read the expression on her face. It was an amalgamation of remorse and perturbation; a nonsensical mixture of rumination and discord. He must have looked significantly concerned because in that moment, Asia coughed into her hand and smiled at him bittersweetly.

"You think I'm afraid of you, don't you?"

He blinked, uncertain, before drawling his response.

"You're not?"

She gazed wistfully into his eyes and gently shook her head.

"Do you remember how I told you, Minato, that I'm not the person that you thought I was?"

He nodded, guardedly, and to his expression, Asia raised her hand appeasably.

"I know you've told me that it doesn't matter. And that assurance has meant more to me than you could ever imagine. But this… is something you should know." She put a hand on her wrist to steady herself and breathed out deeply. "The reason why I came to Japan was because I was excommunicated by the Church."

He blinked, eyes flashing, before Asia sighed and continued.

"I healed a devil. Unknowingly, by all means, but a devil nonetheless." She pressed her lips and as he watched, he saw the beginnings of tears form in the corners of her eyes. "Even if it was only for a moment, I think I hated the Church back then. I hated what they'd done, despite all I'd done for them, and hated that God didn't do anything to help me." She bit the inside of her cheek and blinked away her beads of tears. "But for all of that, I never stopped believing that I'd done the right thing. For all the Church's decries, I couldn't bring myself to believe that that devil had been an inherently bad person."

She raised her hand and traced the two silver rings on her pale, tapered finger.

"God gave me this sacred gear to heal people. To help people in times of trouble or need. And even though it's left me like this, and even though it goes against Heaven's decree…" her voice lowered, and her words carried with intensity, "I'm sure that I would do the same thing all over again."

She paused, gathering her thoughts, before leveling him a wistful, but positive stare.

"You're not a bad person Minato," she said softly. "No matter what you did, or not matter what you think you've done, I won't, nor will I ever, judge you for that."

He stared into her eyes, green and unflinching, before retreating to his thoughts. He could sense the Personas of Light in his mind, watching him watch her with views neither condescending nor benign. He could understand their points. The Heavens were strict because they had to be strict; no accident could be forgiven without inviting the risk of corruption. It had been how the Fallen had come to be, and as they looked upon Asia with tepid eyes, he knew that to them, this girl was no different.

But he was not them.

And for all she'd given him, he could defy the Light to grant the same.

"Thank you, Asia," he said finally.

She smiled at him, a real smile, and as the silence settled between them, he watched somewhat bemusedly as she grew to wet her lips and wring her hands.

"Do you think…" she began, uncertain, "do you think I could see _her_ again?"

He paused, one eyebrow raised, before the meaning of her implication finally dawned on him. Asia must have taken his expression for confusion, and quickly backtracked, hands raised.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I didn't know if the figure was a she or not, I just assumed and—"

"Asia," he said gently, stopping her nervous fidgets with a raised hand, "are you sure?"

She paused, swallowing hard in contemplation, before staring at him, resolute.

"I'm sure," she said, her voice level. "I want to see the summon the helped you help me."

He pressed his lips hard before nodding and allowing his hand to slip near the waistband of his jeans. He pulled it from its stock gingerly, letting its silver barrel glimmer under the lamplight.

Her eyes widened. "That…"

He didn't hear the last of her words, nor the expression on her face. He could guess what they were though. A spark of an epiphany as she recognized the true significance of the gun in his hand, and an expression of pure shock as he brought the muzzle to his head.

He pulled the trigger.

"Persona."

The tell-tale sound of shattered glass tore him from his reverie, and as he looked again at Asia, he saw her face, agape in an expression just short of wonder. He could understand why. An hour earlier, Alice had been brought forth Evoker-less, an expression of his subconscious thoughts without the same control to ground them to reality. Now, instead of being cloaked in shadow, Alice manifested herself childishly. Her blue dress was plainly visible, draped to her knees, and her blonde locks lay fastened in a cream-colored headband.

She turned her red eyes to Asia's green, and smiled.

 _Hello Asia. My name is Alice._

The fairy-like qualities of her tone added to her preternaturalness, and he watched mutely as Asia blinked and stared. He knew better than to try to gauge the nature of her thoughts. He had learned after showing Alice to S.E.E.S that she had an effect on people that left them in _varying_ states of reaction.

Still, it had nonetheless surprised him when Asia straightened and chose to speak _those_ words from her small, cloth seat.

"You're… beautiful."

He blinked. After a moment, Alice followed suit. Then, to Asia's surprise and his chagrin, the mysterious air around the girl vanished, only to be followed by a childish skip and a hug at Asia's side.

" _Awwww!"_ Alice cooed playfully. _"You are sooo sweet."_

Perhaps, he would have found the sight comical had Asia not looked at him, expression torn between wanting to appease the girl to her right, and wanting to plead at him for some clue as at what to do. Admonishingly, he cleared his throat, attracting Alice's attention, and causing her to drop her hold on the girl she'd held fast. Moments later, Asia sighed, half-relieved, half-bewildered.

Alice shot him a grin.

" _You should listen to this one more often, Minato,"_ she said, her voice bright. _"I like her already."_

He shot Asia one last look, confirming that she'd learned what she'd wanted, before dismissing Alice and cutting her off from any further ideas. As her giggles trailed off into his subconscious mind, he appraised Asia, still reigning in her expression of stupefaction before turning to him, mouth dry.

"Well," she started awkwardly. "Your familiar is… nice."

"Not familiar," he corrected, "Persona."

"Persona…" she repeated.

He paused, considering the best way to explain it.

"Alice," he said finally, "is a manifestation of thought."

She blinked before furrowing her brow in concentration. "I… see."

She did not see, not quite anyway, but he resolved to reserve the matter for another time. At present, the far more pressing concern was assuaging her bemusement. It was even jarring to him, after all, to be reminded that Alice was not always the stifling presence she could present herself to be.

"Alice is… erratic," he continued. "She can be friendly to a fault, but she has a darker side, always lurking somewhere."

Asia paused, chewing her lip, before gazing at him thoughtfully.

"When she demanded that I be given the time to think today," she said, her voice light, "was it you or her that wanted it for me?"

He pursed his lips. He thought of Alice, and how for all the good times that she, Belial, and Nebiros had shared, she was still the first recorded resurrection by the Underworld.

"Both of us," he decided.

She nodded, allowing a small smile to grace her features, before she turned her head up to the cream-colored ceiling.

"… I still don't know what to do about that, you know."

He remained silent, listening, as Asia rested her cheek on her hand.

"I know, deep down, that Rias is right," she continued wistfully. "I don't have a place to stay, and I can't just go back to the Church anymore." She sighed and her tone softened. "Issei's told me about them too. They're not bad people. They're kind, accepting, and with Issei by my side, I'm sure that I would feel at home." She pressed her lips hard and her voice caught. "But… I want to be human."

She clenched her hands into a fist and drew her next words bitterly.

"I know it's selfish. And I know that, given the circumstances, I shouldn't even have the luxury to concern myself with that choice."

She turned her head to face him, and this time, she didn't blink away the tears that had dripped from the corners of her eyes.

"But no matter how many times I mull it over, I still, _still_ , want to be human."

He stopped, gripping the armrest of his chair as he watched Asia tremble before hanging her head low. He pulled his eyes away, fastening them to the Evoker that lay heavily on his lap, and thought again of Virtue's words, Elizabeth, and the meaning of choices.

He stood up and reached out his hand to gently touch her shoulder.

"Sometimes," he began quietly, "it's okay to be selfish."

He watched as Asia looked up at him, eyes wide and uncertain.

He offered her a small smile.

"Why don't you come and stay with me, instead?"

* * *

Author's Note

So... yah. This is happening. No guarantees on how long I can keep this up (does the extra long chapter make up for it?), but coming back has been an exhausting but fun ride.

The first thing you'll probably notice is that Asia has been reworked ever so slightly. That's been done intentionally. As is thematic with this fic, I believe that heart-wrenching emotional events should _stick_ , and by giving Asia some more substance to her baggage, I'm hoping to make her character far more interesting than just "sugar, spice, and everything nice." The other thing I thought I'd mention is Personas. Virtue's quote "Do you know what it means Minato to say I am thou, thou art I," is going to be felt heavily throughout as Minato draws more and more personas.

And if anything is going to keep me going, it's the excitement of writing how _that_ will all come to a head.

But I digress. Hope you enjoyed everyone. And I hope you're still reading.


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